Asides from that . . . . I would say that opposition to the communist government and Chinese nationalism have formed a definite part of the third generational Chinese experience. It is strange to note that even Taiwanese nowadays are often discouraged from displaying the white sun flag – many KMT-leaning people prefer to display the Chinese Taipei olympic flag when in an international setting.

I believe that it has to do with a number of factors. Before the Communist era, the only “politicians” were those with royal blood, eunuchs, or wealthy educated people that are appointed as judges or magistrates. When the Communists came into power, any mention of politics must have had a pro-CCP. By the 80s, intellectuals and scholars, particularly those who had studied “political science” had been gotten rid off (if you know what I mean).

In Chicago, I think Chinese people continue to be apolitical, and in general the Taiwanese flag is not offensive because the history of the flag is a part of Chinese culture. Before it was the Taiwanese flag, the symbol of the sun is actually the flag of pre-Communist China. I think the symbol was created by Sun Yet Sen during what they call the Republican Era, which is why after the nationalists lost it was brought with them to Taiwan. Of course, to say anything about it now is political, and I think Chinese in the US could care less about the governments in either CHina or Taiwan as long as their immediate family are okay. Many HK people have many family all around (our Chinese New Year dinner in HK that I haven’t been to in years has family coming in from Fuzhou, Taiwan and Philippines).

Because the Chinese community in Chicago is so old, a lot of Chinatown are new immigrants and the “old” Chinese largely live in the Suburbs. Even among Chinese coming to Chicago, we are seen, not as outsiders but new additions. We are instructed to “do as the romans,” as in accommodate to the way the Chinese have been doing things since even before Communist Party began in China. With that said I think most people, including myself, don’t really care about what flag is being held, as long as they can live their new life in America in peace and with prosperity.

You should get a job at Yahoo.

@Another Ben R from Kansas City living in China

As for the censorship issue, here’s my take. Most of China’s Internet “harmonizing” is done by computers. Usually, I don’t use this blog as a venue for politics or anything too sensitive, so I am guessing chances are I was blocked due to a keyword used out of context being picked up by a trolling bot. For me, I would rather comply with the regulations, rather than have my blog cut off from the country from which it gets about one third of its readership.

Blame James Fallows, I guess…

Has anybody else had problems with this site being blocked in China? If so, could you either leave me a comment or email me at bensinchina at yahoo dot com? Is it specific posts, or the entire site. It’s possible I may need to do another round of internal censorship.

Do you know that you’re usually hard-blocked in China now? It comes and goes, but mostly can’t even get your blog with a proxy. Stinks, really. What have you been up to?