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Some
2,400 years ago, a Chinese King invited Sun Tzu to use young
women to demonstrate military training. He organized the King's
women, and when he said, "Right Turn", they laughed. He beheaded
the two leading women.
Members of China’s Politburo absorbed this kind of history while
growing up. In battles over Google and the currency exchange
rate, their model is that making omelets requires breaking eggs.
But young Chinese left flowers at Google's headquarters.
Although Chinese citizens and leaders see issues like Tibet as
part of a 200-year-long Western imperialist effort to bully
China, the Internet is different.
Ordinary Chinese are irritated by corruption, nepotism, lies,
arrogance, and being hassled when they use the Internet.
The situation reminds me of Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia in
the 80s, when the middle class upended one-party rule, and
achieved democracy.
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Nicholas D. Kristof, has been a columnist for The Times since
2001. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He grew up on a
sheep and cherry farm in Oregon, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from
Harvard, studied law at Oxford, Arabic in Cairo, and Chinese in
Taipei. |
