Merangkai SinoLogika: Bunga Rampai - Christine Susanna Tjhin

Jakarta Post, 21 March 2013. In the midst of public debates on various issues during the recently concluded “Two Sessions” — the first session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference (CPPCC) session — the first ever female spokesperson of this politically charged and internationally observed event, Madame Fuying, instantly turned “red” (local slang for “popular”) and topped the list of the most inspirational figures of the Two Sessions on China’s social media outlets. Many were utterly smitten by her elegant heart-warming style during press conferences. Most notably was her amiable but firm response to a Japanese reporter, who asked whether China would become more aggressive in the future. She cheerfully replied that the Chinese people actually thought the government was not tough enough in responding to the Diaoyu Island issue. She added that Japan broke the consensus first, therefore, it was inevitable that China shoul...

My Dad, Mr. Tjhin Kin Fa 陈京华,  has 5 daughters. No son. “Only” 5 daughters. And I am the third of five, the notorious middle child. There were times when some jerks back home would undermine my Dad for not being able to "continue the Tjhin's bloodline". I once threw a chair to one particular jerk because that jerk, after a petty petty quarrel, yelled at my Dad and said, "Well, at least, unlike you, I still have 'REAL' descendants !!" Ok, I might have been somewhat childish and volatile then, but I still keep the same kind of disrespect to that kind of chauvinist representation. If you haven't known already, Chinese community (Mainland or overseas) follow a  patriarch tradition, where it is the male descendant who maintains the family bloodline. In other words, if you have no son, no one will "continue your bloodline" because your daughters will be married off to other family and take their in-law's family name. Irregardless so, ...

The Jakarta Post, March 04 2013 “This shop does not accept Japanese, Philippines, Vietnamese and dogs”, reads a picture posted on Facebook, of a poster on the front door of a restaurant at Lake Houhai, one of Beijing’s popular tourist spots. The restaurant owner, Mr. Wang, proudly told the BBC that he did it because he loves his country and that many customers support his act. Since maritime disputes flared up in the South China Sea and Diaoyu Islands, so too have reports of ultra-nationalism in China. I remember when there was news of a near clash in the South China Sea early last year, ultra-nationalism materialized into different hot topics trending on Weibo (China’s Twitter), including a revival of the May 1998 riot topic. I remember one comment, “Don’t let the Filipinos do to Chinese overseas compatriots as the Indonesians did in May 98!” I used Baidu (China’s Google) to discover the Chinese people’s perception of Indonesia at the time. Of the 10 most popular topics, four we...