As the 20th anniversary of June 4th Tiananmen approaches, a Chinese Scholar looks at human rights from within Chinese history and through Confucius

Richard Low, a retired Chinese-American professor, wrote the following thoughtful piece which is worth reading and analysing as China goes through its 20th anniversary of June 4th Tiananmen, and the debate continues about "human rights" as seen through "Europeanized" lenses. Mr. Low has a different perspective worth noting:

"Sixty years ago, in the hopes of creating a better world, world thinkers came together to devise international standards for how we should live and governments committed to uphold and guarantee the rights and freedoms set out in these standards for the people of their nations.

Despite the fact that there has been progress in the area of human rights around when the world, there still exist many observable instances of human rights violations."

In China, it is just the opposite.

It was not the people nor the thinkers who had ever given any thought to human rights. It was the ruler who, in order to rule them, must first have accepted the so-called Mandate of Heaven which required him/her to serve the ruled with love (or human-heartedness) and justice. This scheme got started when Zhou Dynasty (1122-770 BCE) took power by defeating the brutal and repressive Shang Dynasty (?1766-?1122 BCE). So it was a ruler's duty or obligation to provide human care or service to the ruled. Why so? It was because during that period one of the very popular maxims circulating among the people says, "People are the foundation of a state. When the foundation is firm and solid, the state will enjoy peace and harmony."

But what would this foundation be like and how to build it? Then, there came Confucius (557-497 BCE) who proposed a Great Universal Society (Datong) or Utopia, as given below:

When the Great Way prevails, the world belongs to all. Men of great virtue and talent are selected (or elected) who will foster mutual trust and promote universal understanding. Thus, men do not regard as their parents only their own parents nor treat as their own children only their own children. Sufficient provision is secured for the aged till their death, employment assured for the able-bodied, and funds provided for the loving care of the young. The widowers, widows, orphans, the childless, and those who are disabled by diseases or mishaps are adequately cared for. Each man has his duty, and each woman her hearth. While they detest those who throw away things wastefully, they do not hoard things for their own self-gratification. Disliking idleness they labor, but not alone with a view to their own advantage. In this way, selfish acts of cheating and profiteering are discouraged. Hence, their front doors need not be locked.

Such is the State of Universal Peace and Harmony for All

- The Book of Rites (Li Ji)

Except for the few decades when Mao Zedong tried to replace Confucius,through his shameful Cultural Revolution, with Marx, Confucianism has guided China politically and ethically for over 2,000 years - even during the 300 some years of occupation by the Mongols and the Manchus. Now that Mao has passed away, the new regime has gradually brought Confucius back, and once again the Chinese become the only people on this planet who have enjoyed the same living civilization continuously for such a long time.

So, if the Chinese government ever violates any of the human rights, all that the UN or the so-called NGO has to do is to ask if it still respects the Mandate of Heaven and remembers Confucius's teachings. After all, a sense of shame is considered one of the most important virtues for being a virtuous gentleman (Junzi).

Unfortunately, Westerners do not seem to possess this kind of culture in their history. Thus, even when Jesus told them to love their enemies and bless them that curse them and so on, more Christians were killed by Christians than by the pagan Romans when the Roman emperor Constantine (306-337), tired of the unending heated debate over Trinitarianism, decided to take it as the Christian doctrine of the West, according to the great historian Edward Gibbon in his "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" and, then, the bloody fights betweeen so-called Christians during the period of Reformation resulting "in the death of 10-20 million," according to the "Bible Handbook" by Henry Halley (1951).

So, it is no wonder that "some governments have used the concepts of human rights and democracy to their own advantage and used it to advance their own political agendas."

How about some governments using the United Nations "to their own advantage" and "to advance their own political agenda?"

Well,it seems that perhaps the United Nations may need a total reform!

The above thoughtful posting by Mr. Low should be read in tandem with the following link:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/email/obstacles-to-the-progress-of-human-rights-in-the-world

What's good for the goose is good for the gander - HKG Democrats criticized Macau for banning their entry -- look what the Brits in UK are doing too !

Recently, I read about how a group of HKG Democrats drew international media attention, especially in the Western press, about how some of them were barred from entry to MACAU and prevented from disembarking from the piers after attempting to take the HKG-Macau ferry.

The ostensible reason, of "shit-disturber" mau-mau legislator such as Leung Kwok Hung (aka as "Long Hair Leung"), that hippie-looking serial protester in the HKG legislature who is constantly a sore in the butt for HKG's Chief Executive and a hemmorhoidal "pain" on the backside of Beijing, is that the rights of free speech and freedom of assembly, and as their extension, the freedom of dissent, is guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" policy of CHINA.

Well, we have also heard from Jackie Chan, the "kung fu" movie actor, who was roundly excoriated for his "foot in mouth" remarks about the Chinese people needing "control" or "regulation;" further, Jackie Chan noted that "chaotic" environment of HKG where "luan" as he described it is not something that he is sure the Chinese need.

Well, look across the United Kingdom, the cradle of the Magna Carta of Human rights. See what the Brits just did in declaring an American radio "talk show jock," Michael Savage, a blabbermouth of an extreme arch-conservative who hates immigrants, advocates nuking Iran, "persona non grata" and barred him from entering Great Britain.

Savage, in his usual raging "fire and brimstone" screaming and hectoring, from his pulpit in San Francisco, the "chi-chi" capital of American uber-liberals, lefties, and greenies, is crying "persecution" and infringement of his free speech rights.

Savage is threatening to sue the British government.

Doesn't this show shades of HKG's blabbermouth "Long Hair" Leung, otherwise known as Leung Kwok Hung, and his raving and ranting against Macau for declaring him "persona non-grata" and banning him from visiting Macau ?

Read on the story about Michael Savage, our San Francisco version of a "Long Hair" Leung, otherwise known as Leung Kwok Hung.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=39618

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Now the Brits know what Jackie Chan is talking about, and may even comiscerate with poor Jackie Chan, whose butt was kicked all over the place, from the "honorary whites" and "Western farts smell more fragrant" constituency in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Touche. Touche. Touche. YAU MO KAU CHO AAHHHHH !

"European Price" as U.S. dollar declines; the New York Times will cost US$ 2 for each print newspaper for weekdays and US$ 6 on weekends starting June

Setting aside all these "culture food fights" raging within America, from same-sex marriage, legalizing marijuana use, animal rights, banning foie gras in French restaurants, banning plastic bags, and a carbon tax imposed on one's excess carbon footprints and emissions, Many Americans are not thinking straight and focusing on the fundamental issues that face their society from within.

Forget the pain and hemorrhaging suffered in terms of human fatalities and casualties in two wars, i.e. Iraq and Afghanistan, with consequences, social and economic, and yes, psychic, in the form of war-shocked returning troops suffering "post-traumatic stress syndrome" and readjustment to peacetime and the bleak jobs market at home.

Forget the Wall Street bailouts, the handouts to big banks, and the handouts to the auto industry, CHRYSLER and GM, included.

Forget the joblessness and the hollowing out of America's core economy. Forget the unemployed and underemployed college graduates increasingly stressed out and distressed.

Forget the housing meltdown, and the credit crunch, forcing "Johnny Six Pack" and "Soccer Jane Mom" to go belly-up and bankrupt.

The sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, already prophesied that the U.S. is primed to face an inflationary spiral which is bound to impact the U.S. economy in the form of rising prices. INFLATION. INFLATION. INFLATION with the capital "I."

Somehow, no one is thinking straight and applying some common sense that all these financial borrowing and leverating, and all these bail-outs and economic stimuli packages from the government, will eventually have to be paid for sometime, somewhere by somebody.

And from the looks of things, it will be the ordinary folks in Main Street who will bear the burden.

Consider the latest.... faced with dwindling circulation and an erosion of its advertising base, America's premier newspaper, the New York Times just announced that it will cost US$2 to obtain a copy its daily newspapers, and US$6 a copy for its Sunday edition.

What kind of desperado act is this ? Yao Mo Kao Cho ahhhhh !!!!

GIMME A BREAK.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9808NR81&show_article=1

Is this now "Europe pricing" now working its way into America ?

In Western Europe, we all know how they gouge consumers with prices which are downright obscene. e.g. US$ 10 for a soggy, miserable looking "bockwurst" sausage in a miserable looking bun.

Unfortunately, this model, i.e. the "European pricing" model, appears to be the trend which is increasingly happening in America.

The U.S. dollar ain't worth beans pretty soon.

Hoard up on the yuan (renminbi), fellas.

The professor of doom and gloom, Noriel Roubini,and his fellow professor from New York University Stern School of Business, Matthew Richardson penned the following op-ed article, which appeared in the WSJ. You be the judge.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124147831175584985.html

The Silk Route trade between the Middle East and China renewed and growing

Linkage between the Middle East and China, in commercial as well as cultural ties, with China's Hui minority in Xinjiang Province as hub, has grown dramatically as reported by the following blog:

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2009/04/27/middle-east-looks-east-to-china/

The head of the World Health Organization --- answers critics ---defends HKG's quarantine;; Margaret Chan: "you ain't seen nuthing yet" - 2nd Wave ?

Many in the Western news media ratpacks are "pooh-poohing" the draconian methods applied by Asian-Pacific countries against the spread of the swine flu.

"Overblown" seems to be the theme of the carping.

CNN's "talking head" Jack Cafferty (remember him during the Beijing Olympucs Games torch relay run-up and his racist comments") is once again one of those white "jackasses." Counting dead bodies, Cafferty once again shot from his mouth, claiming that the "old flu" bug alone already claimed 13,000 American lives this year alone, compared to one death chalked up to the swine flu:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/05/03/MN3B17CKP7.DTL

Hong Kong doctor Margaret Chan, who now heads the World Health Organization, would have none of this "dumbed-down" raving and ranting by these gweillo ratpacks. She gave a press conference setting up the record:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6260d9a-37d4-11de-9211-00144feabdc0.html

Will Wolfram Alpha come out and eat the lunch of Google ?

Find out about the buzz over Wolfram Alpha and why this new upstart software can eat the lunch of Google as a more versatile search engine ?

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/an-invention-that-could-change-the-internet-for-ever-1678109.html

Fortress Australia - Aussie Premier Kevin Rudd bulking up its own military on rise of CHINDIA (China and India)

Who's kidding who, Mr. Kevin Rudd ?

Fundamentally, Australia still sees itself alligned with Europe and America and is the bulwark state acting as Asia policeman for the Europeans and North Americans.

In the face of an emerging CHINDIA, i.e. China and India, and the increasing role China and India play in the world's geopolitical stage, Aussies are getting skittish about their role as America's "junior policeman" providing the containment rim to curb a rising CHINDIA.

And here we are seeing the rationale and justification of a "bulking up" of Australia's military by a whooping US$ 72 billion, spread out over 20 years. That's a lot of 'baksheeh' , folks.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0503/p99s01-woap.html

Shades of that "white supremacy" world hegemony at play. The Aussies are always ambivalent and confused about whether they are Asians or Europeans.

And understandably, upon seeing a weakening Uncle Sam (or Uncle Obama), Uncle Kevin is preparing for contingency.... just in case.

Uncle Kevin may speak Mandarin; but his heart is screwed on the wrong place. And it shows lately in his political posturing in the international stage.