Get your nationalism out of my fucking movies or I'll blog about it, Part 1
Okay, this is a long one, and if you're not terribly interested in Chinese cinema or my idiotic rants or a critique of nationalism in practice, please utilize the scrollbar to your right, or the handy X in the tab or window above it.
In late April, this sphincter troll named Zhao Baohua over at the People's See-No-Evil Department posted this on his blog (why the fuck are they all on Sina?) about why Ning Hao's new movie isn't onscreen yet. You didn't read that wrong, he's a fuckin' censor. And for that, alone, he needs some Zulu crucifixion. But hey, guess what, the harmonizer got harmonized. They pulled his critique of the movie from his blog a few days after it was posted, and that's why I have to link to a random archive at a movie forum site to show you it. I'm also going to reprint it here, and translate it, because I haven't found any mention of this anywhere on the English blogosphere, or anywhere outside of China, which means it could just vanish into thin air one day. I will also be making snarky asides during the translation. Why? 'Cause I'm a dick.
Now get this in ya and we'll talk more when you're done:
王力 发表于 2010-4-25 01:06
（转）青年导演切勿自恋
《青年导演切勿自恋》
作者：赵葆华 (电影审查委员)
Wang Li posted at 2010-4-25 01:06
(Repost) No Narcissism From Young Directors
No Narcissism From Young Directors
Author: Zhao Baohua (Movie Review Council Member)(snarky aside: more like Movie Death and Destruction to Creative People and the Cultural Exports of Your Country Council Member amirite)
我曾写过文章《走出自恋情结》，批评某些久负盛名的电影导演们不要太自恋，否则会在自恋中迷失。近来，我发现一些被传媒娇宠、小有成就便名声大噪的年轻导演也在自恋，自恋得昏昏然。
Once I wrote a post entitled "Moving Away From Narcissistic Plots" admonishing many long-famous directors not to be too narcissistic, or they'd get lost in their narcissism. Lately, I've discovered a few media darlings, young directors who have risen to fame on meager accomplishments, who are also bogged down in narcissism.
青年导演宁浩当下因自恋而迷失在自己的新作《无人区》里。在电影《无人区》里，宁浩将他的“疯狂”系列作品的“疯狂”艺术路线进行到极致。尽管他自己在谈到《无人区》时，毅然表示绝不重复让他声名鹊起的《疯狂的石头》，也不会重复让他晋身亿元票房俱乐部的《疯狂的赛车》。他表示，他过往的那两部“疯狂”作品，过于关注人性猥琐。然而在《无人区》里，岂止是关注人性猥琐？在宁浩营造的无人区里可以杀人越货，可以敲诈勒索，可以逍遥法外，可以为所欲为！活动在《无人区》里的人物，绝大多数是负面人物。徐峥饰演的律师黄海，被当做英雄来塑造，其实也根本不是英雄。为防止剧透，不在此详加分析人物。创作者以为这是无人区，便可以将疯狂玩颠，将疯狂玩到极致。作为国家公民安全的维护者--警察，在《无人区》里愚蠢而又无能。宁浩们认为既是无人区，就是警力延伸不到的地方。疯狂犯罪就有了艺术合理性。然，这是哪里的无人区？是公海么？不是。剧情提示这是中国新疆境内的无人区。如此以来问题就出现了，不是环境选错，而是艺术表现有误。为了好看，为了艺术极致，不惜违背生活真实和艺术真实。其实这还不是主要的失误，最主要的失误是丢失了艺术家的一份社会责任：这样的艺术设定和艺术表现与中国国家形象不利，与中国国民形象不利，与中国公众安全心里不利！因娱乐而损公，乃症候所在也。
Young director Ning Hao, in his new work “No-Man's Land”, is lost in his own narcissism. In “No-Man's Land”, Ning Hao takes the “crazy” from his “Crazy” series (note: Ning Hao is famous for his movies “Crazy Stone ” and “Crazy Racer”; good movies if you haven't seen 'em) to its natural extreme. He absolutely swore “No-Man's Land” wouldn't be a repeat of the “Crazy Stone” that made him famous, or the “Crazy Racer” that earned him 100 million in box office revenue. He said that the “Crazy” series put too much emphasis on the ugliness of human nature. But then how, in “No-Man's Land”, has he put so much emphasis on the ugliness of human nature? In Ning Hao's no-man's land you can kill, rob, blackmail, and disrespect the law with impunity, you can go as wild as you please! The vast majority of the characters in “No-Man's Land” are negative. The lawyer Huang Hai played by Xu Zheng is portrayed as a hero, but there's nothing heroic about him. To protect the plot, we won't look any deeper at the characters. But the creator thinks that because this is an uninhabited area (note: 无人区 in Chinese literally means “uninhabited area”, but that's a pretty shitty title for a movie, so we didn't really go with that) he can go willy-nilly to his heart's content, he can go crazy to the extreme (note: yes it sounds shitty, but this is a patronizing old man talking; patronizing old men sound shitty). The protectors of our nation's public order - the police, are stupid and incompetent in “No-Man's Land”. (non-snarky aside: As someone who saw the original version, I can tell you that, um, no they're not. The police are portrayed quite reasonably. This douchebag's beef is that the police aren't portrayed as omniscient superheroes.) Ning Hao's people think that because this is an uninhabited area, the arm of the law can't reach it. Wildly breaking the law is reasonable art, he thinks. Well, where is this uninhabited area? International waters? No. The plot makes it clear that this is Xinjiang, inside China's borders. And so now we see the problem, it's not the setting, it's what the setting expresses. (snarky aside: Xinjiang is a magical land of bunnies, flowers, and unicorns where nothing illegal, immoral, or violent ever happens. Fact!) To make it look good, to take art to its limit, he's gone against both the realities of fact and art. But this isn't the main problem, the main problem is that he's ignored the social responsibility of an artist: this kind of art harms China's national image, the image of its people, and the image of public safety in the eyes of China's citizens! Harming the public for entertainment is a symptom of the disease. (Snarky aside: the 5 brothels within a 15 minute walk of my house are also inside China's borders, and the police station about 500 meters from my house is also in China's borders. I can think of a lot of places inside China's borders that kind of ruin this argument.)
宁浩因成功而自信，因膨胀自信而自恋，因自恋而陷入创作误区。由此联想到青年导演张扬的近作《无人驾驶》，亦看出他的迷失。影片表现中年人的生存困境和精神困境，整部片子令人烦闷。形式感很强，叙事巧妙结构考究。但，剧中人物的心理皆如梅雨天气沉闷得透不过气来，所有人物的命运和行为都像无人驾驶的车不知要驶向何方。因编剧长篇电视连续剧《大明宫词》和《橘子红了》而蜚声业界的青年才俊郑重，其导演处女作《气喘吁吁》耗资两千万元，亦请来巨星葛优主演，然一切无济于事，作品迷恋于展示中年人无聊琐碎的情绪。《气喘吁吁》同样是一部因自恋而迷失而病态般自我欣赏的私家作品，遭到观众和业界的双重拒绝实属必然。
Ning Hao grew confident because of his success, and because of his inflated confidence grew narcissistic, and because of his narcissism fell into a creative trap. (snarky aside: takes one to know one)This reminds me of another young director, Zhang Yang, and his recent work “Driving Without a Driver”, from which we can see that he's lost his direction. The movie is about the troubles of the middle-aged in work and spirit, and the whole movie leaves you feeling frustrated and depressed. The movie's sense of form and narrative structure are clever. But, the characters are like a sticky, humid, rainy day that air can't flow through, their fate and behavior are all like a car without a driver, they don't know where they want to go. And the brilliant Zheng Zhong, so well-known for authoring the classic TV series “Palace of Desire” and “Oranges”, sunk over 20 million RMB on his directorial debut “Gasp”, the lead role of which was acted by megastar Ge You. All that money gone on a work that lost itself because of its obsession with the trivial mood swings of the middle-aged. Gasp is another self-congratulatory work lost in and sick with narcissism, and its rejection by both audiences and professionals was inevitable. (non-snarky aside: Um, yeah, dude, the whole point of art is what again? I thought it was to take self-expression to the extreme, and from what I know, you need to be a little cocky to think that other people want to hear what you have to say. Artists are, by definition, narcissists, because they think what they have to say about the world is worth our time and money. Often it is, often it's not. But we wouldn't have art without that attitude, so shut the fuck up.)
我又想到声名显赫的陆川和同样声名显赫的《南京！南京！》，影片的艺术品质令人赞叹，足以证明陆川过人的才情，然而影片所呈现的国民形象国民精神，那份面对日寇入城的木然，愕然，惧然，像牲口一样任日寇宰杀践踏凌辱，令今天的观影国民作何感想？仅仅是仇恨日本法西斯吗？又仅仅是反思国民的劣根性？陆川过于相信自己对那段历史的把握能力和表现能力，如其说他别出心裁一厢情愿地让作品中的日本军人去反思南京大屠杀，不如说他对那段历史误识，无意间让民族精神蒙羞。若像《南京！南京！》所呈现的影像记忆，中国的八年抗战不会胜利。南京遭日军大屠杀是历史现实，三十几万中国人在这场大屠杀中遇难，同样是历史现实。表现这个历史现实应有文化立场。不该过分地欣赏自己的艺术构想，纯客观地陈述国人被屠杀的过程。艺术视野应从迷恋自己转到赞赏我们民族拼搏向上的精神，推动民族伟业前行的时代精神。
I have similar feelings about Lu Chuan's prominent “Nanking! Nanking!” The movies artistic aspects are impressive, and prove that Lu Chuan is talented. But the image and spirit of the Chinese people that the movie presents as the Japanese invaders enter the city, the stupefied, stunned, terrorized population stampeded, insulted, and slaughtered like cattle by the Japanese, what image does that present to today's audiences? Is it merely a hatred of Japanese fascism? Is it merely a portrayal of Chinese people at their worst? Lu Chuan is overconfident in his ability to understand that period of history, and overconfident in his ability to express himself. And if you want to say that he hoped through his work to make the Japanese invaders reconsider their role in the Nanjing Massacre, you're better off saying that he has misunderstood that time in history, and greatly insulted the spirit of the Chinese people in his carelessness. (snarky aside: Your mom greatly insulted the spirit of the Chinese people in her carelessness.) If we remember the 8-year war of resistance against the Japanese as it is shown in “Nanking! Nanking!”, we forget our victory. The Nanjing Massacre is a historical fact, and the difficulties encountered by 300,000 Chinese people in that massacre is also a historical fact. (snarky aside: you pan a dude because he doesn't present China in a good light during that war, and then you euphemize grisly slaughter as “encountering difficulties” in the next sentence; how very Japanese of you.) When we portray this history, we should do it in a proper cultural setting. We should not, in the daze of our artistic vision, simply objectively portray the process by which our country's people were massacred. (snarky aside: No? We shouldn't do like every country that's ever gotten past a tragic history has ever done? So the South Africans and the Germans and the Indonesians and the Armenians and the Rwandans and the Spanish and the Argentinians and the Canadians and the Liberians are just plain wrong? I guess one Chinese guy speaking for a billion and a half of them can't be wrong. Oh wait, your fucking organization passed “Nanking! Nanking!” and then it kicked ass at the box office. Oops. NOBODY LIKES YOU.) Artistic vision must turn from self-obsessed narcissism to celebrating the spirit of our people's struggle forward, and to promoting our people's push into a new age. (snarky aside: nice Party copypasta there, douchebag.)
本文提到的这些年轻导演都是我欣赏喜爱的，其中有的还与我私交甚好。十分唐突地批评这些年轻才俊，实在没有冒犯之意，真的出于爱之深责之切。因为中国电影的未来属于年轻人。我亦呼吁相关部门，也呼吁评论界、传媒界还有艺术前辈们，为青年导演成长营造健康的氛围。不要再捧杀。
The young directors I mention in this article are all people I admire, and I even have a good personal relationship with some. My blunt criticism of these young talents is not meant to offend; I do it because my love for them makes this criticism my responsibility. Because the future of China's movies belongs to these young people. I urge the relevant departments, I urge critics, the media, and their predecessors, to create a healthy atmosphere of growth for these young directors. (snarky aside: Yeah, they need more pointless nationalist criticism and needless interference with their budgets and plots. That's the healthiest thing for them and China.) Let's not kill them with praise again. (No, let's kill them by demanding countless re-edits and then not allowing them to distribute their movies. Let's do that.)
Yeah, get that in ya. That feces is high-grade, straight from the top, the best available. Get that the fuck in ya. Mmmmmm! Tasty tasty morsels of irrelevance. This guy's blog is classic. He's like a fossil. He pans pretty much everything that comes out of the younger directors' studios as bad for the image of China, and in his latest entry moans about the state of criticism today. Everybody on the web is doing it, they're all shallow, they're all unreasonable, uneducated, get off my lawn.
Well, look at his picture. Dude's already got one foot in the grave, and his kind are dying out. But the problem is, it's the likes of him that's making life hell for Ning Hao right now. Ning Hao's new movie No-Man's Land, which I translated before the censors got their dirty paws on it, was a pretty good kill-n'-bash bloodfest. It was fuckin' cool. It was violent. There were no heroes. Everybody in that movie is badass, it looked cool, shit blew up. I heartily recommended it, and people are still asking me when it's coming out. Well, it's not, probably. It's just like the dude said up there, the movie portrays the police as “incompetent”. The police aren't really even a factor in the plot. It's about a chase through the desert in Xinjiang, and since it's a fucking DESERT, there aren't that many police around. Well, there's one, and he's a very fair-minded, competent individual, but he can't be everywhere, right? Well, in China, showing that onscreen is an insult to the entire nation, because in China, the police are genies with godlike powers who stop any crime before it happens.
And when a movie doesn't pass with the censors, they send you a list and say “redo this part, this part, and this part”. “Gasp” was easy, they just had to pull the American anthem out of a scene. Most of the time it's not too big of a problem. But the whole concept behind “No-Man's Land” pretty much disqualifies it from ever being shown in China.
Obviously, that would be pretty frustrating, getting bogged down in that process while your investment rots. Which makes me wonder if this doesn't have anything to do with it. You'll notice, if you check Ning Hao's blog, that the entry is missing, same as Zhao Baohua's. It's reprinted in all its dirty glory at the Global Voices link, but here it is again, for posterity.
天热，老爸要去游泳，我和朋友小军陪着，也该活动活动了。
It was hot out, so dad wanted to go swimming. My friend Xiao Jun and I felt like we could use the exercise, so we went with.
泳池里并不宽松，每条泳道都有人了，多数为每道两人，这也常见，没什么特别；最靠边的第一泳道只有一人，老爸便先顺着池边 的金属扶手下了水；我正和小军放东西，忽闻一声凄厉怪叫，声音很大，（就是怪叫，不知还有什么别的词）有几分奇怪，回头看时，原来是第一泳道有一洋人咆 哮，并对老爸嚷英文（混响太大，没听清）老爸听不懂，便移至第二泳道去了。
The swimming pool was far from empty, there were people in every lane, two in most, a common enough sight and no big deal; in lane one off to the side there was only one person, so dad climbed down the metal ladder on the side of the pool and jumped into the water. I was still with Xiao Jun finding a place to put our things down when I suddenly heard some shrill shriek, quite loud (it was shrieking, I don't know how else to describe it) and quite strange for an instant. When I looked over, I saw that the person in the first lane was a Westerner who was now ranting, shouting at my dad in English (the reverb was too loud, I couldn't make it out). Dad didn't understand, so he just moved over into lane two.
心中不悦，有什么必要要对老人大嚷，此洋人太不明白尊老爱幼的道理；但也许他们国家不行此道，也未可知，不知不怪，不理他 罢了。小军已经到另外一边下水了，于是我便活动一下身体准备选择泳道，但此时其他泳道再加上老爸和小军，都已经是二至三人，唯有这第一泳道只此一人；没多 想，跃入其中；不想游至中段，看到迎面游来的洋人指着我说着什么；停下踩水对他说：讲中文！（对他国语言的使用是对他国文化的臣服表现）洋人继续指着我： 一条一个人！你离开，明白么？（原话）
I was quite unhappy at this. Why was it necessary to go off on an older person like this? This Westerner has no concept of respecting the elderly. For all I know, maybe that's just not something they do in his country and he doesn't know any better, so I just ignored him. Xiao Jun had already jumped in on the other side, so I started warming up while I chose a lane. By this time, though, with dad and Xiao Jun in the water, all lanes already had 2-3 people in them, only lane one had one person in it. Without giving it anymore thought, I jumped in. Before I had even swum halfway down, I saw the Westerner swimming straight at me, pointing at me and saying something. I stopped and started treading and said to him: speak Chinese! (speaking in the language of other countries is a display of submission to the culture of said country) The Westerner kept pointing at me: one person per lane! You get out, understand? (his words)
我终于明白他刚才怪叫的原因，原来是不满刚才家父在此泳道游泳；又不是比赛泳池，这是公共游泳场，怎么就只能你一个人一条 泳道？即使你们国家是这样，但在我有十几亿国民的中国，从来都是大家共享泳道；你这想法未免有些自私。另外值得注意的是从他的蓝眼睛里我并没有看到商量或 是客气，仅仅是不容商榷的命令，不免有些令人气愤。我扭头问站在旁边的救护员：请问这游泳场有此规定么？救护员怯怯的摇摇头，我问洋人：请问谁规定的？他 居然淡定的指着自己一字一顿的说：我--说--了，一条一个人！字正腔圆，那表情突然让我想到八国联军！我开始绷不住了：我们上去找人说。说完爬上岸。
Finally I understood the reason for his rant earlier, he was upset that my father had been swimming in this lane. This was not a competition lane, and this was a public swimming pool, so how is it that there can only be one person in each lane? Even if that's the case in your country, here in my China there are over a billion people, swimming lanes are for everyone to use. This idea of yours is really a bit too selfish. Also worth noting is that I couldn't see any willingness to discuss or be polite in those blue eyes of his, instead all I saw was an order that wasn't up for debate; naturally, this was somewhat infuriating. I turned and asked the lifeguard standing nearby if such a regulation exists at that swimming pool, the lifeguard just nervously shook his head. I asked the Westerner: whose rule is this? Then he actually pointed straight at himself and, word-by-word, said: I--told--you, one person per lane! Talking to me in that over-pronounced tone of voice, his expression suddenly reminded me of the Eight-Power Alliance! I began to lose my cool: let's take this out of the pool. Having said that, I climbed out.
洋人也跟上来，足有185公分；骚高闷壮，充满挑衅的走进我并且抓住我的手腕：你想吵架么？（我估计他想说“打架”）我并 没想动手，只想摔开他的手，老爸，小军这时看到，也从水里上来，他才把手松开；这时泳池的几个管理员闻讯赶来，我问他们：你们这里是有规定，一条泳道一个 人么？管理员摇头：没有啊，人多的时候也是多人共用的。我说：那请你明确告诉他，在这里，是大家共用泳道的。这时我却在管理员脸上看到一丝怯懦；并没人上 前与他沟通（这是中国英语不好的人的通病，还没开口就先自卑，甚至是恐惧）我坚持：说中文，他听得懂
The Westerner followed. Built and buff standing tall at 185 cm, he walked up to me provocatively and grabbed my wrist, saying in Chinese: ‘you want to argue?' (I figure he meant ‘fight'). I had no intention of making a move, I just wanted to break his grip on me. At this time, dad and Xiao Jun saw what was going on and came over, only then did he let go of me. Then several pool management personnel came rushing over and I asked them: do you have a regulation here that only one person can be in a lane at a time? One manager shook his head: no we don't; when the place fills up, people have to share. I said: well then would you please tell him clearly that the lanes here are for everyone to share? At that, I saw trace of cowardice in the manager's face and no one stood up to talk to him (it's that failing those of us in China with poor English share, abasing ourselves before we even open our mouth, then from that to feeling afraid). I persisted: speak Chinese, he understands.
一个教练样貌的小伙子鼓起勇气走过去开始在泳池边和他沟通；我看这次既然有了正式的“规定”；便继续和小军在这条泳道游起 来；没想到游至中段，这洋人竟伸跃入泳池伸开双手阻拦，并且推搡我们，回头看时，他竟竖起中指手势，岂能在家门口被异族歧视，还一而再再而三的侮辱，是可 忍孰不可忍，打丫挺的！翻身报以老拳。于是水花翻飞……几拳过去，洋人便也老实了。想起了毛主席的话，原来也不过是纸老虎！
One kid who looked like a swim coach got up the courage to go over to the swimming lane and talk to him. It looked like there finally would be some proper ‘regulation', so Xiao Jun and I went back to swimming in that lane. I didn't expect that again, before I'd even swum halfway down, that Westerner actually leapt back in the pool and spread his arms to block the lane, shoving us back. When I looked up, he was actually giving us the middle finger. Discriminated against in my own home by someone of another race, insulted not just once but repeatedly, I couldn't stand it any longer, this guy needed a beatdown! I stood up and started throwing punches. Water started flying around…after a few punches, the Westerner started to smarten up. I thought of that Chairman Mao saying, turns out he was just a paper tiger!
我从水里上来管理员劝架：别跟他一般见识……他们老外不懂事！听了让人生气，好像是在说洋人的不是，可仔细一琢么不对，他 们不讲理，凭什么不跟他一般见识；那是懦弱；祖传性懦弱！是自卑！习惯性自卑！是中国人一百多年的恐洋症媚洋症的顽疾！革命先烈几代人抛头颅洒热血不就为 了给中华民族争取平等自由，让中国人在洋人面前不低头么？人家和你一般见识你就得跟他们一般见识到底！！
Management came over and tried to mediate: don't stoop to his level…those laowais are just ignorant! Hearing that just made me angry, it was like they were saying the Westerner wasn't in the wrong. If you stop to think about what was wrong with this picture, it was they who were being unreasonable. Why shouldn't I stoop to his level? This cowardice, it's been passed down through generations! It's self-abasement! Habitual self-abasement! It's the chronic disease of worshiping foreigners and fearing them at the same time that has afflicted the Chinese people for over a hundred years! Didn't several generations of revolutionary martyrs shed both blood and life in fighting for equality and freedom for the Chinese nation, so that Chinese people would no longer bow before Westerners? If people are going to pick a fight with you, you need to see it through to the end!!
现在中国变成越来越重要的经济体，出于经济目的洋人也越来越多的来到国内；其中不乏有友善平等，甚至无私相助之人，在此我 向这些为我国社会主义建设做出贡献的国际友人表示敬意！但也不乏充满功利主义，利己主义，远道的和尚会念经主义的某些个体（也许不在少数）的存在。
Now that the Chinese economy is becoming increasingly important, greater numbers of Westerners are coming to China with economic aims. Of those, there is no shortage of friendly and equal, even selfless and supportive people, and to those international friends making a contribution to the socialist construction of my country, I show my respect! But nor is there a shortage (and possibly not a minority) of full-on certain utilitarian and egoistic individuals in existence who hold all things foreign in holy reverence.
大多是在西面混的不好，换个钱多人软的地方碰碰运气；到了中国简直就是天堂：原本不宽与的收入换做人民币居然消费力甚为可 观，这里的民众又大多有“尊敬”外宾的传统；即使有点矛盾他们也会抱着 “让着”“不一般见识”的态度；（只要说句英文他们就足够怕了）；还有很多主动热情说英文的“向导”（不知什么心里，以与外国人为伍交流为荣者，过去叫二 毛子）甚至天天换女朋友也不是问题（总有前仆后继的姑娘往上冲）等等等等；原本在自己国家得不到的尊重和自信在这里得到了极大的满足……长此以往毕生娇 纵，霸道也就在所难免！可怜，毛病都是国人惯出来的！
Many of these are people who struck out back home in the West, now trying their luck in a place where the money is flowing and the people are easy; coming to China is like heaven for them: having gone from having such low income to now where the consumption power of the renminbi is quite considerable, many of the people here still maintain a tradition of “honoring” foreign guests. Even when some conflict occurs, they still rush to “let it go” or the attitude of “seeing eye-to-eye” (all you have to do to put the fear in them is say a few words in English). Then there are those many ‘tour guides' so active and enthusiastic to speak English (I don't even know what kind of mental state that entails, in the past those proud to be associated with foreigners were called fake Westerners), and even when [foreigners] change their girlfriends on a daily basis, that's not a problem (whenever one girl gets shot down, there's always another one ready to rush to the front line), and so on. Where back home they didn't get much respect or have much confidence, here they are satisfied to the maximum……anybody who lives in such a way for too long will inevitably become spoiled, and ending up feeling like you can do whatever you want would be hard to avoid! What's pathetic is that we indulge this kind of defect!
在此望同胞自省，并告诫那些不规矩的老外--放尊重些！这是中国！禁止撒野！！！！！
My hope is that my compatriots will allow for some introspection, and warn these misbehaving laowais: be more respectful! This is China! Your tantrums are not allowed!!!!!
Right, so, Ning Hao's movie gets stalled, and then he smacks around a foreigner at a pool. Good job, buddy. That'll show those censors you mean business. Oh, and the whole Eight-Power Alliance and not tolerating laowai temper tantrums makes your films even more appealing abroad. Yep. Publicity trimph.
Y'know what happened here? This whole mess could have been avoided if they'd kept the nationalism out of it. Yes, horrible things happened in the past. China can and should receive due compensation for these things. That's not the issue here. The issue is that a guy tried to make a good movie, and got a big nationalist brick to the face. And then, the same guy tried to do the right thing about a dick at the swimming pool, and slammed the pool staff that didn't do anything about it themselves, but he wrapped it up in a nationalist package and it backfired on him. Now, people in the industry (people that I know, at least, I didn't think of this by myself) think Ning Hao is compensating with that entry for his trouble with the censors.
Frankly, I don't think so. The little contact I've had with Ning Hao and his people make me think he's not the type of guy to do that. He seemed like a guy who is very, very capable of putting nationality aside, but who also loves his country and doesn't want to put up with undue bullshit. All in all, a balanced, healthy human being. So I'm just going to put that out there and not comment anymore on what his motives might be.
Instead of a badass chase movie, we the soppy whining of an old man. And instead of a dick getting put in his place and a warning to service staff not to put up with bullshit, we get a tirade that borders on racism.
This is what nationalism as an organizing ideology and justification for behavior does. It's a cancer that's strangling China's media, the careers of people I respect, and China's soft power. And in the end, when people realize what you've said, it's an embarrassment that you'll wish you could take back, and as you'll notice that both Zhao Baohua's and Ning Hao's entries are gone, someone, whether it's them or someone else with their hands on the buttons at Sina, agrees with me.
Fuck off with your nationalism. Seriously. Fuck off with it. No one appreciates that message.
And Zhao Baohua, cut the shit. If you need to say and believe these things to keep your job, it's time to retire. You're holding the entire country back. China's national image, right now, is subject to mockery precisely because people like you speak for it, while your boot rests on the face of people like Ning Hao. Do you even realize what people think of Ning Hao? This latest spat aside, people like this guy. He's the best thing for China's image you could hope for. He makes thoroughly enjoyable movies with the kind of iconic characters and dialogue that get quoted on T-shirts and memorialized in colloquial idiom. In "No-Man's Land", you've got a movie that could stand with the best of Hollywood's Westerns and chase movies. People have been imitating "Kalifornia" for how many years now? You've got a movie that could finally give Xinjiang some cultural pathos other than as a place where angry Uyghurs attack colonialist Han with meat cleavers and IDE's on the street. You, probably single-handedly, could change that zeitgeist in the rest of the world and strike a blow for China's soft power. And then you could stand back and tell the rest of the world, and your own citizens, that your department is with the times, reasonable in its demands, and is not a stodgy holdout Cultural Revolution ideologues. Instead...you did the opposite. If Ning Hao is the symptom, you're the disease.
In late April, this sphincter troll named Zhao Baohua over at the People's See-No-Evil Department posted this on his blog (why the fuck are they all on Sina?) about why Ning Hao's new movie isn't onscreen yet. You didn't read that wrong, he's a fuckin' censor. And for that, alone, he needs some Zulu crucifixion. But hey, guess what, the harmonizer got harmonized. They pulled his critique of the movie from his blog a few days after it was posted, and that's why I have to link to a random archive at a movie forum site to show you it. I'm also going to reprint it here, and translate it, because I haven't found any mention of this anywhere on the English blogosphere, or anywhere outside of China, which means it could just vanish into thin air one day. I will also be making snarky asides during the translation. Why? 'Cause I'm a dick.
Now get this in ya and we'll talk more when you're done:
王力 发表于 2010-4-25 01:06
（转）青年导演切勿自恋
《青年导演切勿自恋》
作者：赵葆华 (电影审查委员)
Wang Li posted at 2010-4-25 01:06
(Repost) No Narcissism From Young Directors
No Narcissism From Young Directors
Author: Zhao Baohua (Movie Review Council Member)(snarky aside: more like Movie Death and Destruction to Creative People and the Cultural Exports of Your Country Council Member amirite)
我曾写过文章《走出自恋情结》，批评某些久负盛名的电影导演们不要太自恋，否则会在自恋中迷失。近来，我发现一些被传媒娇宠、小有成就便名声大噪的年轻导演也在自恋，自恋得昏昏然。
Once I wrote a post entitled "Moving Away From Narcissistic Plots" admonishing many long-famous directors not to be too narcissistic, or they'd get lost in their narcissism. Lately, I've discovered a few media darlings, young directors who have risen to fame on meager accomplishments, who are also bogged down in narcissism.
青年导演宁浩当下因自恋而迷失在自己的新作《无人区》里。在电影《无人区》里，宁浩将他的“疯狂”系列作品的“疯狂”艺术路线进行到极致。尽管他自己在谈到《无人区》时，毅然表示绝不重复让他声名鹊起的《疯狂的石头》，也不会重复让他晋身亿元票房俱乐部的《疯狂的赛车》。他表示，他过往的那两部“疯狂”作品，过于关注人性猥琐。然而在《无人区》里，岂止是关注人性猥琐？在宁浩营造的无人区里可以杀人越货，可以敲诈勒索，可以逍遥法外，可以为所欲为！活动在《无人区》里的人物，绝大多数是负面人物。徐峥饰演的律师黄海，被当做英雄来塑造，其实也根本不是英雄。为防止剧透，不在此详加分析人物。创作者以为这是无人区，便可以将疯狂玩颠，将疯狂玩到极致。作为国家公民安全的维护者--警察，在《无人区》里愚蠢而又无能。宁浩们认为既是无人区，就是警力延伸不到的地方。疯狂犯罪就有了艺术合理性。然，这是哪里的无人区？是公海么？不是。剧情提示这是中国新疆境内的无人区。如此以来问题就出现了，不是环境选错，而是艺术表现有误。为了好看，为了艺术极致，不惜违背生活真实和艺术真实。其实这还不是主要的失误，最主要的失误是丢失了艺术家的一份社会责任：这样的艺术设定和艺术表现与中国国家形象不利，与中国国民形象不利，与中国公众安全心里不利！因娱乐而损公，乃症候所在也。
Young director Ning Hao, in his new work “No-Man's Land”, is lost in his own narcissism. In “No-Man's Land”, Ning Hao takes the “crazy” from his “Crazy” series (note: Ning Hao is famous for his movies “Crazy Stone ” and “Crazy Racer”; good movies if you haven't seen 'em) to its natural extreme. He absolutely swore “No-Man's Land” wouldn't be a repeat of the “Crazy Stone” that made him famous, or the “Crazy Racer” that earned him 100 million in box office revenue. He said that the “Crazy” series put too much emphasis on the ugliness of human nature. But then how, in “No-Man's Land”, has he put so much emphasis on the ugliness of human nature? In Ning Hao's no-man's land you can kill, rob, blackmail, and disrespect the law with impunity, you can go as wild as you please! The vast majority of the characters in “No-Man's Land” are negative. The lawyer Huang Hai played by Xu Zheng is portrayed as a hero, but there's nothing heroic about him. To protect the plot, we won't look any deeper at the characters. But the creator thinks that because this is an uninhabited area (note: 无人区 in Chinese literally means “uninhabited area”, but that's a pretty shitty title for a movie, so we didn't really go with that) he can go willy-nilly to his heart's content, he can go crazy to the extreme (note: yes it sounds shitty, but this is a patronizing old man talking; patronizing old men sound shitty). The protectors of our nation's public order - the police, are stupid and incompetent in “No-Man's Land”. (non-snarky aside: As someone who saw the original version, I can tell you that, um, no they're not. The police are portrayed quite reasonably. This douchebag's beef is that the police aren't portrayed as omniscient superheroes.) Ning Hao's people think that because this is an uninhabited area, the arm of the law can't reach it. Wildly breaking the law is reasonable art, he thinks. Well, where is this uninhabited area? International waters? No. The plot makes it clear that this is Xinjiang, inside China's borders. And so now we see the problem, it's not the setting, it's what the setting expresses. (snarky aside: Xinjiang is a magical land of bunnies, flowers, and unicorns where nothing illegal, immoral, or violent ever happens. Fact!) To make it look good, to take art to its limit, he's gone against both the realities of fact and art. But this isn't the main problem, the main problem is that he's ignored the social responsibility of an artist: this kind of art harms China's national image, the image of its people, and the image of public safety in the eyes of China's citizens! Harming the public for entertainment is a symptom of the disease. (Snarky aside: the 5 brothels within a 15 minute walk of my house are also inside China's borders, and the police station about 500 meters from my house is also in China's borders. I can think of a lot of places inside China's borders that kind of ruin this argument.)
宁浩因成功而自信，因膨胀自信而自恋，因自恋而陷入创作误区。由此联想到青年导演张扬的近作《无人驾驶》，亦看出他的迷失。影片表现中年人的生存困境和精神困境，整部片子令人烦闷。形式感很强，叙事巧妙结构考究。但，剧中人物的心理皆如梅雨天气沉闷得透不过气来，所有人物的命运和行为都像无人驾驶的车不知要驶向何方。因编剧长篇电视连续剧《大明宫词》和《橘子红了》而蜚声业界的青年才俊郑重，其导演处女作《气喘吁吁》耗资两千万元，亦请来巨星葛优主演，然一切无济于事，作品迷恋于展示中年人无聊琐碎的情绪。《气喘吁吁》同样是一部因自恋而迷失而病态般自我欣赏的私家作品，遭到观众和业界的双重拒绝实属必然。
Ning Hao grew confident because of his success, and because of his inflated confidence grew narcissistic, and because of his narcissism fell into a creative trap. (snarky aside: takes one to know one)This reminds me of another young director, Zhang Yang, and his recent work “Driving Without a Driver”, from which we can see that he's lost his direction. The movie is about the troubles of the middle-aged in work and spirit, and the whole movie leaves you feeling frustrated and depressed. The movie's sense of form and narrative structure are clever. But, the characters are like a sticky, humid, rainy day that air can't flow through, their fate and behavior are all like a car without a driver, they don't know where they want to go. And the brilliant Zheng Zhong, so well-known for authoring the classic TV series “Palace of Desire” and “Oranges”, sunk over 20 million RMB on his directorial debut “Gasp”, the lead role of which was acted by megastar Ge You. All that money gone on a work that lost itself because of its obsession with the trivial mood swings of the middle-aged. Gasp is another self-congratulatory work lost in and sick with narcissism, and its rejection by both audiences and professionals was inevitable. (non-snarky aside: Um, yeah, dude, the whole point of art is what again? I thought it was to take self-expression to the extreme, and from what I know, you need to be a little cocky to think that other people want to hear what you have to say. Artists are, by definition, narcissists, because they think what they have to say about the world is worth our time and money. Often it is, often it's not. But we wouldn't have art without that attitude, so shut the fuck up.)
我又想到声名显赫的陆川和同样声名显赫的《南京！南京！》，影片的艺术品质令人赞叹，足以证明陆川过人的才情，然而影片所呈现的国民形象国民精神，那份面对日寇入城的木然，愕然，惧然，像牲口一样任日寇宰杀践踏凌辱，令今天的观影国民作何感想？仅仅是仇恨日本法西斯吗？又仅仅是反思国民的劣根性？陆川过于相信自己对那段历史的把握能力和表现能力，如其说他别出心裁一厢情愿地让作品中的日本军人去反思南京大屠杀，不如说他对那段历史误识，无意间让民族精神蒙羞。若像《南京！南京！》所呈现的影像记忆，中国的八年抗战不会胜利。南京遭日军大屠杀是历史现实，三十几万中国人在这场大屠杀中遇难，同样是历史现实。表现这个历史现实应有文化立场。不该过分地欣赏自己的艺术构想，纯客观地陈述国人被屠杀的过程。艺术视野应从迷恋自己转到赞赏我们民族拼搏向上的精神，推动民族伟业前行的时代精神。
I have similar feelings about Lu Chuan's prominent “Nanking! Nanking!” The movies artistic aspects are impressive, and prove that Lu Chuan is talented. But the image and spirit of the Chinese people that the movie presents as the Japanese invaders enter the city, the stupefied, stunned, terrorized population stampeded, insulted, and slaughtered like cattle by the Japanese, what image does that present to today's audiences? Is it merely a hatred of Japanese fascism? Is it merely a portrayal of Chinese people at their worst? Lu Chuan is overconfident in his ability to understand that period of history, and overconfident in his ability to express himself. And if you want to say that he hoped through his work to make the Japanese invaders reconsider their role in the Nanjing Massacre, you're better off saying that he has misunderstood that time in history, and greatly insulted the spirit of the Chinese people in his carelessness. (snarky aside: Your mom greatly insulted the spirit of the Chinese people in her carelessness.) If we remember the 8-year war of resistance against the Japanese as it is shown in “Nanking! Nanking!”, we forget our victory. The Nanjing Massacre is a historical fact, and the difficulties encountered by 300,000 Chinese people in that massacre is also a historical fact. (snarky aside: you pan a dude because he doesn't present China in a good light during that war, and then you euphemize grisly slaughter as “encountering difficulties” in the next sentence; how very Japanese of you.) When we portray this history, we should do it in a proper cultural setting. We should not, in the daze of our artistic vision, simply objectively portray the process by which our country's people were massacred. (snarky aside: No? We shouldn't do like every country that's ever gotten past a tragic history has ever done? So the South Africans and the Germans and the Indonesians and the Armenians and the Rwandans and the Spanish and the Argentinians and the Canadians and the Liberians are just plain wrong? I guess one Chinese guy speaking for a billion and a half of them can't be wrong. Oh wait, your fucking organization passed “Nanking! Nanking!” and then it kicked ass at the box office. Oops. NOBODY LIKES YOU.) Artistic vision must turn from self-obsessed narcissism to celebrating the spirit of our people's struggle forward, and to promoting our people's push into a new age. (snarky aside: nice Party copypasta there, douchebag.)
本文提到的这些年轻导演都是我欣赏喜爱的，其中有的还与我私交甚好。十分唐突地批评这些年轻才俊，实在没有冒犯之意，真的出于爱之深责之切。因为中国电影的未来属于年轻人。我亦呼吁相关部门，也呼吁评论界、传媒界还有艺术前辈们，为青年导演成长营造健康的氛围。不要再捧杀。
The young directors I mention in this article are all people I admire, and I even have a good personal relationship with some. My blunt criticism of these young talents is not meant to offend; I do it because my love for them makes this criticism my responsibility. Because the future of China's movies belongs to these young people. I urge the relevant departments, I urge critics, the media, and their predecessors, to create a healthy atmosphere of growth for these young directors. (snarky aside: Yeah, they need more pointless nationalist criticism and needless interference with their budgets and plots. That's the healthiest thing for them and China.) Let's not kill them with praise again. (No, let's kill them by demanding countless re-edits and then not allowing them to distribute their movies. Let's do that.)
Yeah, get that in ya. That feces is high-grade, straight from the top, the best available. Get that the fuck in ya. Mmmmmm! Tasty tasty morsels of irrelevance. This guy's blog is classic. He's like a fossil. He pans pretty much everything that comes out of the younger directors' studios as bad for the image of China, and in his latest entry moans about the state of criticism today. Everybody on the web is doing it, they're all shallow, they're all unreasonable, uneducated, get off my lawn.
Well, look at his picture. Dude's already got one foot in the grave, and his kind are dying out. But the problem is, it's the likes of him that's making life hell for Ning Hao right now. Ning Hao's new movie No-Man's Land, which I translated before the censors got their dirty paws on it, was a pretty good kill-n'-bash bloodfest. It was fuckin' cool. It was violent. There were no heroes. Everybody in that movie is badass, it looked cool, shit blew up. I heartily recommended it, and people are still asking me when it's coming out. Well, it's not, probably. It's just like the dude said up there, the movie portrays the police as “incompetent”. The police aren't really even a factor in the plot. It's about a chase through the desert in Xinjiang, and since it's a fucking DESERT, there aren't that many police around. Well, there's one, and he's a very fair-minded, competent individual, but he can't be everywhere, right? Well, in China, showing that onscreen is an insult to the entire nation, because in China, the police are genies with godlike powers who stop any crime before it happens.
And when a movie doesn't pass with the censors, they send you a list and say “redo this part, this part, and this part”. “Gasp” was easy, they just had to pull the American anthem out of a scene. Most of the time it's not too big of a problem. But the whole concept behind “No-Man's Land” pretty much disqualifies it from ever being shown in China.
Obviously, that would be pretty frustrating, getting bogged down in that process while your investment rots. Which makes me wonder if this doesn't have anything to do with it. You'll notice, if you check Ning Hao's blog, that the entry is missing, same as Zhao Baohua's. It's reprinted in all its dirty glory at the Global Voices link, but here it is again, for posterity.
天热，老爸要去游泳，我和朋友小军陪着，也该活动活动了。
It was hot out, so dad wanted to go swimming. My friend Xiao Jun and I felt like we could use the exercise, so we went with.
泳池里并不宽松，每条泳道都有人了，多数为每道两人，这也常见，没什么特别；最靠边的第一泳道只有一人，老爸便先顺着池边 的金属扶手下了水；我正和小军放东西，忽闻一声凄厉怪叫，声音很大，（就是怪叫，不知还有什么别的词）有几分奇怪，回头看时，原来是第一泳道有一洋人咆 哮，并对老爸嚷英文（混响太大，没听清）老爸听不懂，便移至第二泳道去了。
The swimming pool was far from empty, there were people in every lane, two in most, a common enough sight and no big deal; in lane one off to the side there was only one person, so dad climbed down the metal ladder on the side of the pool and jumped into the water. I was still with Xiao Jun finding a place to put our things down when I suddenly heard some shrill shriek, quite loud (it was shrieking, I don't know how else to describe it) and quite strange for an instant. When I looked over, I saw that the person in the first lane was a Westerner who was now ranting, shouting at my dad in English (the reverb was too loud, I couldn't make it out). Dad didn't understand, so he just moved over into lane two.
心中不悦，有什么必要要对老人大嚷，此洋人太不明白尊老爱幼的道理；但也许他们国家不行此道，也未可知，不知不怪，不理他 罢了。小军已经到另外一边下水了，于是我便活动一下身体准备选择泳道，但此时其他泳道再加上老爸和小军，都已经是二至三人，唯有这第一泳道只此一人；没多 想，跃入其中；不想游至中段，看到迎面游来的洋人指着我说着什么；停下踩水对他说：讲中文！（对他国语言的使用是对他国文化的臣服表现）洋人继续指着我： 一条一个人！你离开，明白么？（原话）
I was quite unhappy at this. Why was it necessary to go off on an older person like this? This Westerner has no concept of respecting the elderly. For all I know, maybe that's just not something they do in his country and he doesn't know any better, so I just ignored him. Xiao Jun had already jumped in on the other side, so I started warming up while I chose a lane. By this time, though, with dad and Xiao Jun in the water, all lanes already had 2-3 people in them, only lane one had one person in it. Without giving it anymore thought, I jumped in. Before I had even swum halfway down, I saw the Westerner swimming straight at me, pointing at me and saying something. I stopped and started treading and said to him: speak Chinese! (speaking in the language of other countries is a display of submission to the culture of said country) The Westerner kept pointing at me: one person per lane! You get out, understand? (his words)
我终于明白他刚才怪叫的原因，原来是不满刚才家父在此泳道游泳；又不是比赛泳池，这是公共游泳场，怎么就只能你一个人一条 泳道？即使你们国家是这样，但在我有十几亿国民的中国，从来都是大家共享泳道；你这想法未免有些自私。另外值得注意的是从他的蓝眼睛里我并没有看到商量或 是客气，仅仅是不容商榷的命令，不免有些令人气愤。我扭头问站在旁边的救护员：请问这游泳场有此规定么？救护员怯怯的摇摇头，我问洋人：请问谁规定的？他 居然淡定的指着自己一字一顿的说：我--说--了，一条一个人！字正腔圆，那表情突然让我想到八国联军！我开始绷不住了：我们上去找人说。说完爬上岸。
Finally I understood the reason for his rant earlier, he was upset that my father had been swimming in this lane. This was not a competition lane, and this was a public swimming pool, so how is it that there can only be one person in each lane? Even if that's the case in your country, here in my China there are over a billion people, swimming lanes are for everyone to use. This idea of yours is really a bit too selfish. Also worth noting is that I couldn't see any willingness to discuss or be polite in those blue eyes of his, instead all I saw was an order that wasn't up for debate; naturally, this was somewhat infuriating. I turned and asked the lifeguard standing nearby if such a regulation exists at that swimming pool, the lifeguard just nervously shook his head. I asked the Westerner: whose rule is this? Then he actually pointed straight at himself and, word-by-word, said: I--told--you, one person per lane! Talking to me in that over-pronounced tone of voice, his expression suddenly reminded me of the Eight-Power Alliance! I began to lose my cool: let's take this out of the pool. Having said that, I climbed out.
洋人也跟上来，足有185公分；骚高闷壮，充满挑衅的走进我并且抓住我的手腕：你想吵架么？（我估计他想说“打架”）我并 没想动手，只想摔开他的手，老爸，小军这时看到，也从水里上来，他才把手松开；这时泳池的几个管理员闻讯赶来，我问他们：你们这里是有规定，一条泳道一个 人么？管理员摇头：没有啊，人多的时候也是多人共用的。我说：那请你明确告诉他，在这里，是大家共用泳道的。这时我却在管理员脸上看到一丝怯懦；并没人上 前与他沟通（这是中国英语不好的人的通病，还没开口就先自卑，甚至是恐惧）我坚持：说中文，他听得懂
The Westerner followed. Built and buff standing tall at 185 cm, he walked up to me provocatively and grabbed my wrist, saying in Chinese: ‘you want to argue?' (I figure he meant ‘fight'). I had no intention of making a move, I just wanted to break his grip on me. At this time, dad and Xiao Jun saw what was going on and came over, only then did he let go of me. Then several pool management personnel came rushing over and I asked them: do you have a regulation here that only one person can be in a lane at a time? One manager shook his head: no we don't; when the place fills up, people have to share. I said: well then would you please tell him clearly that the lanes here are for everyone to share? At that, I saw trace of cowardice in the manager's face and no one stood up to talk to him (it's that failing those of us in China with poor English share, abasing ourselves before we even open our mouth, then from that to feeling afraid). I persisted: speak Chinese, he understands.
一个教练样貌的小伙子鼓起勇气走过去开始在泳池边和他沟通；我看这次既然有了正式的“规定”；便继续和小军在这条泳道游起 来；没想到游至中段，这洋人竟伸跃入泳池伸开双手阻拦，并且推搡我们，回头看时，他竟竖起中指手势，岂能在家门口被异族歧视，还一而再再而三的侮辱，是可 忍孰不可忍，打丫挺的！翻身报以老拳。于是水花翻飞……几拳过去，洋人便也老实了。想起了毛主席的话，原来也不过是纸老虎！
One kid who looked like a swim coach got up the courage to go over to the swimming lane and talk to him. It looked like there finally would be some proper ‘regulation', so Xiao Jun and I went back to swimming in that lane. I didn't expect that again, before I'd even swum halfway down, that Westerner actually leapt back in the pool and spread his arms to block the lane, shoving us back. When I looked up, he was actually giving us the middle finger. Discriminated against in my own home by someone of another race, insulted not just once but repeatedly, I couldn't stand it any longer, this guy needed a beatdown! I stood up and started throwing punches. Water started flying around…after a few punches, the Westerner started to smarten up. I thought of that Chairman Mao saying, turns out he was just a paper tiger!
我从水里上来管理员劝架：别跟他一般见识……他们老外不懂事！听了让人生气，好像是在说洋人的不是，可仔细一琢么不对，他 们不讲理，凭什么不跟他一般见识；那是懦弱；祖传性懦弱！是自卑！习惯性自卑！是中国人一百多年的恐洋症媚洋症的顽疾！革命先烈几代人抛头颅洒热血不就为 了给中华民族争取平等自由，让中国人在洋人面前不低头么？人家和你一般见识你就得跟他们一般见识到底！！
Management came over and tried to mediate: don't stoop to his level…those laowais are just ignorant! Hearing that just made me angry, it was like they were saying the Westerner wasn't in the wrong. If you stop to think about what was wrong with this picture, it was they who were being unreasonable. Why shouldn't I stoop to his level? This cowardice, it's been passed down through generations! It's self-abasement! Habitual self-abasement! It's the chronic disease of worshiping foreigners and fearing them at the same time that has afflicted the Chinese people for over a hundred years! Didn't several generations of revolutionary martyrs shed both blood and life in fighting for equality and freedom for the Chinese nation, so that Chinese people would no longer bow before Westerners? If people are going to pick a fight with you, you need to see it through to the end!!
现在中国变成越来越重要的经济体，出于经济目的洋人也越来越多的来到国内；其中不乏有友善平等，甚至无私相助之人，在此我 向这些为我国社会主义建设做出贡献的国际友人表示敬意！但也不乏充满功利主义，利己主义，远道的和尚会念经主义的某些个体（也许不在少数）的存在。
Now that the Chinese economy is becoming increasingly important, greater numbers of Westerners are coming to China with economic aims. Of those, there is no shortage of friendly and equal, even selfless and supportive people, and to those international friends making a contribution to the socialist construction of my country, I show my respect! But nor is there a shortage (and possibly not a minority) of full-on certain utilitarian and egoistic individuals in existence who hold all things foreign in holy reverence.
大多是在西面混的不好，换个钱多人软的地方碰碰运气；到了中国简直就是天堂：原本不宽与的收入换做人民币居然消费力甚为可 观，这里的民众又大多有“尊敬”外宾的传统；即使有点矛盾他们也会抱着 “让着”“不一般见识”的态度；（只要说句英文他们就足够怕了）；还有很多主动热情说英文的“向导”（不知什么心里，以与外国人为伍交流为荣者，过去叫二 毛子）甚至天天换女朋友也不是问题（总有前仆后继的姑娘往上冲）等等等等；原本在自己国家得不到的尊重和自信在这里得到了极大的满足……长此以往毕生娇 纵，霸道也就在所难免！可怜，毛病都是国人惯出来的！
Many of these are people who struck out back home in the West, now trying their luck in a place where the money is flowing and the people are easy; coming to China is like heaven for them: having gone from having such low income to now where the consumption power of the renminbi is quite considerable, many of the people here still maintain a tradition of “honoring” foreign guests. Even when some conflict occurs, they still rush to “let it go” or the attitude of “seeing eye-to-eye” (all you have to do to put the fear in them is say a few words in English). Then there are those many ‘tour guides' so active and enthusiastic to speak English (I don't even know what kind of mental state that entails, in the past those proud to be associated with foreigners were called fake Westerners), and even when [foreigners] change their girlfriends on a daily basis, that's not a problem (whenever one girl gets shot down, there's always another one ready to rush to the front line), and so on. Where back home they didn't get much respect or have much confidence, here they are satisfied to the maximum……anybody who lives in such a way for too long will inevitably become spoiled, and ending up feeling like you can do whatever you want would be hard to avoid! What's pathetic is that we indulge this kind of defect!
在此望同胞自省，并告诫那些不规矩的老外--放尊重些！这是中国！禁止撒野！！！！！
My hope is that my compatriots will allow for some introspection, and warn these misbehaving laowais: be more respectful! This is China! Your tantrums are not allowed!!!!!
Right, so, Ning Hao's movie gets stalled, and then he smacks around a foreigner at a pool. Good job, buddy. That'll show those censors you mean business. Oh, and the whole Eight-Power Alliance and not tolerating laowai temper tantrums makes your films even more appealing abroad. Yep. Publicity trimph.
Y'know what happened here? This whole mess could have been avoided if they'd kept the nationalism out of it. Yes, horrible things happened in the past. China can and should receive due compensation for these things. That's not the issue here. The issue is that a guy tried to make a good movie, and got a big nationalist brick to the face. And then, the same guy tried to do the right thing about a dick at the swimming pool, and slammed the pool staff that didn't do anything about it themselves, but he wrapped it up in a nationalist package and it backfired on him. Now, people in the industry (people that I know, at least, I didn't think of this by myself) think Ning Hao is compensating with that entry for his trouble with the censors.
Frankly, I don't think so. The little contact I've had with Ning Hao and his people make me think he's not the type of guy to do that. He seemed like a guy who is very, very capable of putting nationality aside, but who also loves his country and doesn't want to put up with undue bullshit. All in all, a balanced, healthy human being. So I'm just going to put that out there and not comment anymore on what his motives might be.
Instead of a badass chase movie, we the soppy whining of an old man. And instead of a dick getting put in his place and a warning to service staff not to put up with bullshit, we get a tirade that borders on racism.
This is what nationalism as an organizing ideology and justification for behavior does. It's a cancer that's strangling China's media, the careers of people I respect, and China's soft power. And in the end, when people realize what you've said, it's an embarrassment that you'll wish you could take back, and as you'll notice that both Zhao Baohua's and Ning Hao's entries are gone, someone, whether it's them or someone else with their hands on the buttons at Sina, agrees with me.
Fuck off with your nationalism. Seriously. Fuck off with it. No one appreciates that message.
And Zhao Baohua, cut the shit. If you need to say and believe these things to keep your job, it's time to retire. You're holding the entire country back. China's national image, right now, is subject to mockery precisely because people like you speak for it, while your boot rests on the face of people like Ning Hao. Do you even realize what people think of Ning Hao? This latest spat aside, people like this guy. He's the best thing for China's image you could hope for. He makes thoroughly enjoyable movies with the kind of iconic characters and dialogue that get quoted on T-shirts and memorialized in colloquial idiom. In "No-Man's Land", you've got a movie that could stand with the best of Hollywood's Westerns and chase movies. People have been imitating "Kalifornia" for how many years now? You've got a movie that could finally give Xinjiang some cultural pathos other than as a place where angry Uyghurs attack colonialist Han with meat cleavers and IDE's on the street. You, probably single-handedly, could change that zeitgeist in the rest of the world and strike a blow for China's soft power. And then you could stand back and tell the rest of the world, and your own citizens, that your department is with the times, reasonable in its demands, and is not a stodgy holdout Cultural Revolution ideologues. Instead...you did the opposite. If Ning Hao is the symptom, you're the disease.