Google out of China - one small persons's view

"你说的对 中国人的性格是这样的
人权 只是说说而已
中国政府不喜欢 太公开的信息啊
我明白你的意思
但是这是政府的决定， 我们是平凡的人
只要可以开心的活下去就好"

I was talking with Skates, a young girl from Wuxi who I lived with for a few months along with 2 other girls in Shanghai. She liked girly punk bands, was well known throughout the Jiao Da foreign community as the smilin'-ist tutor around, and every time she greets me she does so with a hearty "Hey, MAN!"

The above was her response to my queries about Google's leaving. When I'd asked, she said she and most of her friends and the people she knows use Bai Du (along with most of the Chinese internet surfing population). So, to her and many, Google's departure didn't have a very big impact. Then, I asked her "Well, do you think that Google's leaving represents a setback for freedoms in China?"

"You're right, human rights in China are merely talked about...the government plain doesn't like the information available from Google. But this is the government's decision, we're just your average people. As long as we can continue to live happy lives, that's just fine."

poem written in yangshuo

Wata Buffalo <><><><

David 李 Hawks

Hey beast, I see you,

yonder on the grassy shore

Tethered and peaceable

and alone.

So I’m pulling over, paddle laid

straightaways on my lap

Palms on the bow

That means peace, by the way

My god,

You’re beautiful.

You’re shy, too, stealing looks at me

As I stare your bronze body into shame

The sun

hits you

in

such

a

way.

Your horns are short and neat

and sweet, you couldn’t gore me,

would you?

Mine companions thataways, drifting down the teal river

We’re alone so…

So finally now, we share a gaze

Longer than memory, history,

And in two onyx abysses I’m lost.

I seek

To return, go back to a time

When your nostrils weren’t threaded with string

And that life,

Where as a pure peach one-inch boy,

I hung happily on your neck.