Tell it to Steven Hawking. A person's physical stature does not limit his/her potential for work that does not rely on his/her physical stature (e.g., English teaching, as well as physics). The cultural attitude that those who are discriminated against because they do not fit the culturally desired norm should be outcast or should be provided for by special environments that can be sold as entertainment venues to those who will not deal with their own prejudices is a cultural attitude that perpetuates discrimination against all who are 'different'. The problem here, as elsewhere, is a matter of dehumanizing those who are 'different' - prejudicial culture that regiments anything that deviates from its standards, rather than dealing with the prejudice itself. Why not have a theme park within which 'foreigners', with all their funny habits, can be kept, so that they do not disturb the 'normality' of cultural prejudices? Actually, there could be many: one for 'black people', one for Tibetans, one for Japanese, one for gay people, one for Han Chinese people who have given up their 'traditional' clothing for 'western-style' clothing (e.g., the great majority of Chinese, over the past century or so) - in fact we could subdivide and subdivide until nothing was left but mutual nonrecognition. All these would help to maintain the narrow identities of 'normality' that can be relied upon to advance support the cultural attitudes that promote the continuing inability of people to recognize each other as human, and to celebrate and accept their differences - not as entertainment items, no matter how 'cute', but as full human beings. How different is all this from apartheid?
This effort to maintain prejudice can, of course, be profitable to those who invest in it, and convenient for social engineers and political elites who want to maintain an elite power status by reliance on it.
The place is an insult to our common humanity and a spotlight on cultural attitudes of exclusion. Those who find that they enjoy such displays should take a good look at the nature of the culture that has formed them so narrowly. Cultures change; cultures have always changed; cultures are presently changing and will continue to do so; there is nothing sacred about cultural attitudes. Our common humanity is an ongoing project, and those who imagine they are not part of such a project are simply contributing their own blindness to it, and limiting themselves in the process. It's not the 'dwarves' who are the problem, its the people who will not accept them as within the boundaries of 'us'.
China to establish environmentally protected areas nationwide
发布者Don't mean to whitewash, the situation is terrible - just meant to point out that banning forestry was under the PRC, and that the extreme air pollution of cities, which has gotten worse since 1980, has also finally got Chinese authorities to take it seriously and do something about the environment - no, maybe not enough etc., but they've really begun to see the light. Hope they'll see more light, but of course in a globally competitive 'development' economy and competitive international political system they're not suddenly going to shut down all the coal mines etc., any more than other governments endanger their economic positions. Brings into question question about 'development' generally, as well as the wonders of competitive (naturally) capitalism and national 'strength', especially when many of the elements of such lie in the hands of folks with competitive make-money short-term interests. The light that the state has begun to see is in fact in contradiction to the demands of the kind of world economy and polity that is virtually universal. Question is, will longer-term interests prevail over the structural constraints built into the kind of world we live in, or won't they? And no, I'm not real optimistic, but there's no alternative, and it's not just a matter of the present leadership, who are, after all, not blind.
China to establish environmentally protected areas nationwide
发布者I think that in the 19th century it was not so much a matter of people not crying foul or criticizing (it was a century of several armed rebellions against the state that lasted for a decade or more and took the lives of tens of millions) - nor was it then a matter of loss of face, as I doubt that the central or local state was terribly aware of the problem - and at any rate the Qing were pretty busy just trying to keep the lid on things, suppress the massive local rebellions and foreign 'semi-imperialism, semi-colonialism' against their waning power. So I don't think whatever we are seeing today is a matter of the same old same old - but of course you're right about the difference between espoused culture and culture in action.
China to establish environmentally protected areas nationwide
发布者Sublime relation to nature in art and in numerous traditional popular practices, perhaps. However, it was already obvious to numerous Western travelers in China in the 19th century, including some who came to Yunnan, that deforestation in China had long bee seriously damaging the landscape - and note that such issues were a hell of a lot less issues of concern in Europe in the 19th century than they are today. The PRC government banned much forestry in 1997, and although this policy has not always been perfectly carried out and although that it has merely driven foresters to exploit forests in Laos and Myanmar, it does seem to be a step in the right direction - and I, for one, do not think that the current effort will be a matter of mere words.
Kunming to put 45,000 public use bikes on roads
发布者@ Peter: Answer to your question: no.
24 hours in Heijing: Exploring Yunnan's hidden valley
发布者Good photos, good article, sounds like it was a really good trip to what looks like a really cool place.