It has been almost a week since I have arrived to Beijing, China. I was not able to access to blogger for some unknown reason, now everything is working fine -I still have no clue why but I guess when things work, we do not tend to ask why.
Even though the main purpose of this visit is to attend an Amine Oxidase and Related Diseases Workshop (details to come later) so far I had a lot of chances to discover the city. Here goes my top 3 picks:
1- Millions of people are on the street but it is still calm
It is amazing to see how things are working smoothly, like a clock and people are so calm in here. Amazingly people are not on top of each other -at all. I don't get how that happens but you do get a personal space even in the literally packed subways of Beijing.
2- Most polite people ever.
Chinese people are deep and conserved and they are very respectful. The vulgar spirit that is seen in metropol people has not seem to conquer them yet. (Is "yet" the key word here?)
3- Mao forever.
Is Mao sleeping in peace while his pictures are on every touristic objects in Beijing? He is everywhere, including $1 earrings. Seems like he is sharing the same fate with Che of Cuba. (I guess this is the ultimate revenge of the riches from the communists)
I have a lot more to say, but now you can go back to the picture on top. The picture was taken yesterday by the temple of Confucius. The guy is a fortuneteller who charges $1 for 5 minutes- restrictions apply.
Posts
5 comments:
Sounds really interesting. I'd love to see China.
Betül, I had a question I thought you might be able to help me with. I was going to post on a particular subject but thought I should try to find out what's behind it before I do. A show I worked on a while back has interest from a Turkish broadcaster. Problem is, some episodes feature a pig and the broadcaster won't show any episodes that have a pig in it in as it would offend their viewers, most of which I guess are Muslim. So someone has to scour the episodes to make sure he isn't even in the background.
So my question is - why? I understand the basics of halal and Muslim eating requirements, which seem very similar to Jewish kosher laws as far as I can see. So I understand the aversion to eating pig. What I haven't been able to find out through Google is why the very existence of a pig image would be offensive? Why simply looking at one would offend?
Given that they do exist (and presumably created by Allah) and not seeing won't make them unexist, where does the issue lie?
Any insight you could shed on it would be really appreciated!
@bitter animator:
Well, Islam is an exception. Generally, what you do is your own business. You do something bad, it's your sin. You do something good, it's you who's going to the heaven. But in Islam, it's not always like this. Let me explain it a little more.
The basic idea behind wearing a scarf is a good example. If I were a Muslim, and if I saw a lady without a scarf, I've just commited a sin. So people force women to put on scarfs. Because they do not want commit any sin without doing anything wrong.
So in Islam, whatever others do affect your afterlife. You can be as good as a saint, but if you're surrounded by sinners, then you're going to hell.
This is one of the flaws of Islam. It creates a closed culture with low level of tolerance to others.
Particularly because of this, Islam is also sets up a good environment for making up new sins. It helps the governments gain more control over the society. Since questioning and judging also kind of forbidden (practically, if you question then you find Islam nonsense, so don't question) people don't judge these new madeup sins. And after some years, they become real.
As for the pig issue, consuming pork is forbidden. However, seeing one also is considered a kind of sin. I don't think it was always a sin. So in Turkey for example, you don't see pigs on TV, even the cutest ones like the ones in the animes. Because idiot producers think that if they show pigs on the screen, it would be committing a sin. Both for them and for the viewers. Basically, they don't want that responsibility.
I guess the dilemma is the producers who consider the most ignorant (yet more religious) crowd more than anything else. The power of media is huge, and for developing countries like Turkey it is even more since people do not have anything else but tv for entertainment.
You should not give up and push him for the issue, I think. As long as it is for government, he can not decide what to do by himself, there are laws. Some people can be so narrow, and with a lot of authority thus their no is a no and as long as you ask for it, you won't be given anything else. Here is what happened to poor Winnie the Pooh:
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=46598
I guess banning pigs and stuff could be common in islamic countries (I have no idea about Lebanon or else) but it is disappointing to see this in a so-called secular country. Keep me updated with this please.
Thanks for the answers. Murat, that makes the reasoning very clear, though it's one huge challenge for any Muslim not to sin under those circumstances!
And thanks for the link on Winnie the Pooh, Betül. I've actually sent that on to the people involved to see what comes out of it. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks!
Go for it, I will soon write a story about this. You might need to push a little, good luck.
Post a Comment