Lijia Zhang's Blog, page 20
March 27, 2022
Putin documentary
I’ve just watched the BBC documentary Putin: the New Tsar, which charts the dictator’s unstoppable rise to power. I am impressed by the extraordinary collection of participants, which includes Garry Kasparov, the chess grandmaster turned political opponent, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oligarch, Sergei Pugachev, a former member of Putin’s inner circle, Mikheil Saakashvili the former president of Georgia and interestingly, a professor of psychology. It is a brilliant portrait of a narcissist man’s addiction to absolute power.
It was made in 2018, but totally relevant today. If you watch it, you’ll understand why he launched the invasion of Ukraine. As the chess master predicted at the beginning of the documentary: “Putin will invade. The only question is when and where.”
Unfortunately, his prediction has turned out to be true.
March 12, 2022
Chinese media and the invasion
China Media Coverage of Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine
“The first casualty of war is truth.” How true!
I’ve been following China’s coverage with fascination and disgust. Although China claims to be neutral on the matter and even offers itself as a peace maker, its media coverage has more or less been following the Russian line. To start with, instead of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, it is termed as ‘Russian and Ukraine conflict’. It hardly mentions the immense suffering of the civilians in Ukraine or its people’s incredible courageous resistance, which moved the people around the world.
When Russia made false claim that Pentagon has been financing biological weapons labs in Ukraine, China reported it as truth. How dangerous it is! Putin may use it as a false flag to use biological weapons. Here’s NYT’s report on the issue.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/us/politics/russia-ukraine-china-bioweapons.html
How ridiculous that China now blames the U.S and Nato for the invasion. See attached the screen shot of the Chinese article.
A professor Zhang Wenmu from Beihang University, a nationalistic academic, penned a piece “Why has Ukraine Nazi-ized”. There’s a lot of discussion on the topic on the internet. Again, it is ridiculous! The Ukraine president Zelensky is a Jew. Why would he want his country to Nazi-ized?
There’s been a lot of fake news. From a group on Wechat called Friends in London, someone posted a video clip about a week ago, showing Putin crying over the death of Russian soldiers and when their bodies were carried back to Russia, the ordinary people knelt down on the road side, to show their respect. Completely false! If Putin cares about his soldiers, he wouldn’t have sent them over to Ukraine. He is a narcissistic who is utterly indifferent to human sufferings.
Besides, although the Russian people have been fed lies, most of them don’t really want the war. In Meknes, I met a Russian couple who were on holiday in Morocco. He said only about 10 % of Russians, mostly uneducated or in rural Russia, supports the war. The couple themselves hate the war, but nevertheless have felt the negative impact on them. They had to take US dollar cash with them as they are unable to pay with their visa card. The Morocco holiday might be their last foreign trip for a long while. “We’ll become like the North Koreans, isolated in the world,” the husband, an advertising executive, said gloomily.
On the positive side, some honest Chinese academic have expressed their dismay over the invasion. I mentioned this in an earlier post.
Also, two ordinary Chinese guys, Old Zhao (老赵 lǎo zhào) and Wáng Jíxián 王吉 have been posting videos from Ukraine, showing the terrible suffering of the ordinary people in Ukraine. One of them said that he is running a risk of being labeled as a spy, still he’d like to show the Chinese people the truth.
I am travelling in Morocco. Like some countries in Africa, Morocco, fearing of upsetting Rusian, chose to abstain in the UN General Assembly’s vote. People are really worried, mainly about the negative economic impact on the country. One guide said some Moroccans believe that there might be a third world war between the west and the allies among Russia, China and North Korea!
Alas, would the Chinese leaders really want that?
I do hope our leaders will behave like a responsible world leader and show its human face!
February 24, 2022
My oped on wives trafficking in China
Recently, a viral video shocked, fascinated and enraged China. In the clip, the woman, looking dazed, had a metal chain – the type used to chain dogs – tied around her neck and she lived in a shabby hut without a door in a village in Xuzhou, wearing thin clothing in freezing temperatures. It emerged that she produced eight children with a man in his mid 50’s who claimed to be her husband. Here’s my oped on China’s wives trafficking. https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3167950/china-must-act-end-trafficking-and-sale-women-public-outrage-not
January 15, 2022
My oped – why I support China’s hosting of the Olympics
https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3163282/why-china-deserves-host-2022-winter-olympics
In a few weeks, China will be hosting the 24th Winter Olympics in Beijing. Here’s my rationale why I support it. I know many of my friends and acquaintances may raise their eyebrows, but I think the Olympic Games are all about sports and people. If the Chinese people want it, then I am all for it. We have to differentiate between the Chinese people and the government.
If you have strong views on this, I’d be very happy to hear.
January 14, 2022
My review of movie The Tragedy of Macbeth
It can’t go too wrong with Macbeth. With its intriguing plot line, it has all the essential ingredients to make a good story/film, power, murder, treachery, witches and prophecies. There have been quite a few of Macbeth film already. I’ve seen Polanski’s 1971 version and Kurosawa’s 1957 loose adaptation Throne of Blood, which shifts the setting from 11th century Scotland to 6th century Japan.
Now I watched another one – The Tragedy of Macbeth, directed by one of the Coen brothers and starring by Denzel Washington. The characters speak old fashioned English, which makes it difficult for me to follow sometimes. Overall, it is an outstanding production. Though a pared-down version, it catches the essence of the story with some very creative twists: the three witches becomes one who can pull her body into improbable positions. A rather imposing man with natural authority, Washington seems to be born to play the tragic lead. The way he mumbles sometimes reflects his vulnerability and his inner turmoil.
Frances McDormand is a fantastic actress, but I found her performance here too measured and there isn’t anything new or nuanced in her portrait of Lady Macbeth, partly because she has not been given enough stage time, yet the role needs that time. The character can easily fall into the stereotype – a power-thirsty woman who drives her husband to murder and is the source of all evil.
Apart from the witch, I found the character Ross intriguing. This shifty eyed Scottish nobleman is a messenger of some sort. In the opening scene, he brings Macbeth the news that Duncan has made him the Thane of Cawdor. He hangs around at the court at lot, but in the end, he turns against Macbeth and joins Malcolm to topple him.
At times, I felt I was watching a play – well, it is based on a play, but the production makes the most of what a film can offer. In black and white, the cinematography is stunning. The shadows, shifting patterns and desolate landscape all emphasize the tragic and melancholic mood.
I am going to watch the version by Orson Welles.
January 9, 2022
My review of Driving my car
Upon the recommendation of several friends, I watched a Japanese film Driving My Car, directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Wow, it is by far the best film I watched in the past years. Based on a short erotic story Men Without Women, by Murakami, the director, a rising star, greatly expanded and enriched the story and turned it into a 3- hour-long feature, but I never felt it dragged at any point.
It tells the story of a recently widowed actor and theatre director Kafuku going to Hiroshima to direct a multi-languages play Uncle Vanya. There he meets a young woman who drives him around. She, too, has a traumatic story of her own. Their shared suffering and their sense of guilt bring them close. But there is no romance between them, as I expected (I have a bad habit of trying to predicting what happens next while watching a film.) Driving My Car is about love, loss and life and more. Chekov’s play is perfectly intervened with the lives of the characters involved.
At the workshop, Kafuku casts a famous TV star but a troubled character as Uncle Vanya, even though he knows that this younger man had an affair with his wife Oto, a successful screen writer who had a quirky habit of crafting stories while having passionate sex.
All the characters are well-developed. One important character is his vintage Saad, red in colour – the symbol of passion. Kafuku loves to practice his line while driving, listening to cassette tape recorded by his wife. It is his sanctuary of some sort. Some key scenes take place inside the car, but the confined space never feels boring or restrictive.
I have some reservations about certain details: how could anyone gets story ideas while having sex? Also I have some questions about the last scene when the driver finds a dog, that belongs to a dumb Korean actress, in the back of the red Saad. I guess the director’s message is: Keep on living and life is beautiful.
It is a quiet master piece that will stay with you for a long while. Please go to see it while is on cinema in London.
January 6, 2022
December 30, 2021
Malta
https://www.prints-online.com/queen-elizabeth-ii-duke-edinburgh-malta-1951-7193437.html
I didn’t realize that there is an interesting personal connection with Malta. Before leaving London, my ex told me that his maternal grandfather Ben Fisher served as Captain of the Mediterranean Fleet, based in Malta. For years, he had a suite at the luxurious Phoenicia, an art-deco hotel right by the City Gate of Valletta.
So yesterday afternoon, we went there for high tea. The lobby of the ‘grande dame’ was looking sparkly, with the lit-up Christmas tree, polished marble floor and paintings, and a piano was playing softly. It feels like the ‘kind of place Miss Marple might stay if she were in town’ as the Lonely Planet guide puts it.
In 1951, Princess Elizabeth (soon to be Queen Elizabeth) and Prince Philip descended here for a dance.
As we enjoyed our finger sandwiches and alluring selection of cakes, we talked about Captain Fisher and his daughter, my wonderful ex-mother-in-law. As a teenager, she spent several ‘magical summers’ in Malta and enjoyed a high life of an expat, dancing parties, cocktails and cruises.
Intrigued, my younger daughter searched on the internet. Remarkably and unbelievably, she found a reference to their great-grandfather. See the link. The report goes like this:
Princess Elizabeth attending a dance given at the Hotel Phoenician in Malta by the Naval Headquarters. A special feature was a cabaret by officers and here the Princess is smiling buying a hot dog from Captain Ben Fisher, dressed up as a chef.
I imagine that my mother-in-law would smile up in heaven, knowing that her two beautiful granddaughters have followed her footstep to Malta.
December 28, 2021
my commentary on the draft laws on women
Here’s my commentary on the draft laws on the protection of women. For those who are interested, do take a look at the Global Times piece. How ridiculous to think that the #MeToo movement is aimed at subverting the Chinese government!
December 1, 2021
Overseas Chinese feminists show support to Peng Shuai
https://gal-dem.com/peng-shuai-chinese-feminists/
I was interviewed for Jessie Lau’s piece.
