LinkChinese UK News

Two thousand Chinese people marched on to the street of Edinburgh today to show their support of Beijing Olympics and protest against using violent disruption of Olympic torch relay for politics, as well as the media bias in reporting recent riots in Tibet.

The demonstrators, most are Chinese students from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, St Andrews, Aberdeen and Newcastle, marched through several streets in the city centre, then finished the rally at Princes Street Garden. Many brought with them Chinese flags and home-made banners and placards. Typical messages were “One World One Dream One China”, “Free Olympics From Politics”, “No Violence and Politics in Olympics”, and “Politics Are Not An Excuse To Disrupt Olympics”. One prepared a placard showing pictures taken when a protester tried to grab the Olympic torch from a wheelchair-bound torch bearer in Paris, with the message “Hands off Olympic Torch” on it. Some wore T-shirt with pro-Olympics slogans and pictures. One student prepared a placard titled “Tibet in My Eyes” showing the pictures she took in Tibet.

The demonstration, themed as “Proud of Olympics Proud of China”, was organised by Chinese students in Edinburgh. “We have been frustrated by the misreporting by BBC and some other western media about the riots in Tibet and the constant chanting of boycotting Beijing Olympics. Seeing the violent disruption of the Olympic torch relay in London, however, finally made us decide that we must make our voice to be heard.” Ma Yan, one of the organisers told LinkChinese UK.

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The following message is received from the organisers of Edinburgh Proud of Olympics Proud of China demonstration 

We are organising a street demonstration to support Beijing Olympics and protest against the use of violence to disrupt the Olympics.

Olympic Games is a festival for all the people of the world. Olympic flame is a symbol of peace and harmony. We are proud of China being the host of this year’s Olympics.

In recent days, when violence escalated on the streets of Tibet, and ordinary people’s life were threaten by riotous mobs, we are dismayed to witness numerous instances of distortion of facts by some political groups and the misreporting by some media organisations.

We want to use this peaceful demonstration to let people of Scotland and beyond know our support of Beijing Olympics. Peace, not violence, participation, not disruption, should be the spirit everyone inspires to. We are strongly against any attempt that hijacks Olympics for politics.

We also want to use this opportunity to express our sorrow for the lose of life in Tibet and anger against the violence stirred up by some Tibetan separatist groups.

We are proud of Olympics and proud of China.

We are calling Chinese students, members of Chinese communities in Scotland to join us!

The demonstration will be held on
Saturday 12 April 2008

Route:
East Market Street→Waverley Bridge→Princes Street→St John’s Church→Lothian Road→King’s Stables Road
We will stay further one and half hours at West Princes Street Garden (red blazed area near the fountain)

The demonstration will start at 11am at East Market Street.

If you want to join the demonstration, please send your name and contact to parade@ecssa.org.uk

Edinburgh Proud of Olympics Proud of China demonstration
http://lkcn.net/bbs/index.php?showforum=105

Edinburgh Chinese Students and Scholar Assocation (ECSSA)
http://ecssa.org.uk

Contact: Yu Bin (President of ECSSA)
yubin_771115@hotmail.com

 

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Joanna Lumley complained on Channel 4 News that her peaceful protest on the day of Olympic torch relay in London was almost ignored by the media. On the other side, many Chinese students voiced the frustration of that their show of support, a pro-Olympic torch demonstration if you like, despite turning up in large numbers, was barely mentioned by BBC News 24, who broadcasted most part of the torch reply. It is understandable that stunts, especially violent stunts, always attract more media attention, however I do wonder whether those they tried to grab the torch, or throw themselves to the torch bearers, or ambush the torch with a fire extinguisher, were risking losing their case. Not only they overshadowed their colleagues who insisted on peaceful demonstration, some action, like the one happened in Paris during which several men charged from all directions, wave after wave, towards a disabled torch bearer sitting on a wheel chair in order to grab her torch (well before the flame lit up), did not do any good PR for the movement’s ‘non-violent’ image.

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The High Court judge Mr Justice Newman ruled that the government acted unfairly in imposing stricter rules retrospectively to migrant workers in the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) scheme who were already in the UK, and gave go-ahead for a judicial review. The new rules were announced in November 2006 and said to affect up to 44,000 migrants by the opponents.

The Financial Times reports:

Mr Justice Newman gave the go-ahead for a judicial review into the government’s imposition of tough new regulations, which opponents claimed would force up to 44,000 migrants, who came to work under the old rules, to leave the country. The changes announced in November 2006 introduced stricter education, age and earnings requirements for highly skilled migrants including those already working here and expecting to remain.

The HSMP Forum, a non-profit organisation established to help highly skilled migrants, called for the judicial review into the retrospective aspect of the rule changes, which it said were “unfair and discriminatory”.

Read the full report.

 

Dong Yi, the young Zheng player, gave a sole concert to the audiences at British Museum on 27 March as part of the China Now programme. The pieces played were classic works rooted from folk traditions of various regions and ethnic groups in China. Dong Yi, who started Zheng playing as a child, has given performance in many occassions. She is currently a postgraduate student of London School of Economics.

 

Chinese School
1/5. The Year of the Golden Pig

Following the hopes and dreams of a group of children over the course of a year, at three schools in rural China as they prepare for the biggest challenge of their young lives as mocks begin for the Gao Kao exam. [AD,S]

Tue 8 Apr, 21:00-22:00 60mins Stereo Widescreen

Website http://www.open2.net/chineseschool/index.html

 

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Among many commentaries about what happened in Tibet and what would happen at Beijing Olympics, some groups advocate either boycotting Beijing Olympics altogether or at least the opening ceremony, or encouraging athletics openly demonstrate during the Games, wearing a Free Tibet t-shirt while competing for example. To see what kind of reaction their proposed action may get, one can do worse than checking the response from the eighty thousand or so Chinese students in the UK. Although most of them won’t hesitate to criticise Chinese government’s handling of events, such as a blind ban of the foreign media, many believe the western media are equally biased and untrustworthy. On the overseas Chinese discussion boards, there have been heated debate, mainly among overseas Chinese students themselves, about whether Tibetan are treated well enough, and how strained the relationship between Tibetan and Han-Chinese is, however most of the participants see Tibet as an integral part of China, many also accuse western media as being one-sided or even fabricating in reporting the violence in Tibet. A seven minute video posted onto YouTube (has been viewed near two million times) reflects the feeling shared by many Chinese students.

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Chinese author Ma Jian’s new book, Beijing Coma, will be published in May by Chatto & Windus.

Ma Jian says, “I wanted to write a book that would bear witness to recent history and help reclaim a people’s right to remember. Through my protagonist Dai Wei — a student lying in a coma after being shot in the Tiananmen Massacre — I was able to write about brutality and injustice, but also about the things that make life worth living: love, hope, freedom, truth, and the quest for the sublime. Imprisoned in his body for ten years, Dai Wei is forced to turn inwards and confront his past, and in doing so becomes freer and more alive than the comatose crowds that surround him. The act of remembering gives life its meaning. It is an act of defiance against tyranny and death. “

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The Scotsman’s Jim Gilchrist reports:

Next Monday, Xiang Silou, professor at the Fine Arts Institute of Sichuan Normal University and an outstanding woodblock art-ist, will take up a month-long residency at Glasgow’s Burrell Collection, where several of his large-format woodblock prints will go on display. While there, he will create a new print inspired by the collection, which includes one of the most important assemblies of Chinese art and artefacts in Britain.

His visit, during which he will give work-shops and lectures, is organised in conjunction with the Ricefield Arts Centre in Glasgow, where he exhibited two years ago, and which is involved in promoting exchanges between Scottish and Chinese artists.

Read the full story.

 

To welcome the beginning of spring, MBL in co-operation with Friends of Streatham Common, is celebrating a Kite Festival on Sunday the 13th April 2008. Continuing with MBL’s mission of providing cultural supports for Chinese children living abroad, we take the Kite Festival as a unique opportunity for Chinese Children to experience Chinese culture through a fun and outdoor activity. This will also be a special occasion for families with Chinese children to converge together to make friends and enjoy family harmonies.

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