While discussing with a friend the merits of another Shanghai-based blog that ends in “ist,” my friend mentioned that he read an interesting story over there about a famous Shanghai blogger called Chinabounder, who after five months of silence, reemerged Friday with arguably his most controversial post yet. Chinabounder’s “Sex and Shanghai” blog chronicles the sexual conquests of a 30-something British teacher in Shanghai. Back in August, Chinabounder stopped posting after angry netizens called for the Western blogger’s head and demanded an investigation into Chinablogger’s true identity. The leader of the manhunt was Zhang Jiehai, a psychology professor from the prestigious Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences who wrote on his own blog in August:
With tremendous anger, I will tell you the story of an immoral foreigner and I call upon all Chinese compatriots to get together and kick this immoral foreigner out of China…He uses obscene and filthy language to record how he used his status as a teacher to dally with Chinese women… At the same time, he did everything that he could to insult the Chinese government and men…This is intolerable and this piece of garbage must be found and kicked out of China!!!
Zhang’s plea resonated among bloggers and Chinese intellectuals who felt Chinabounder’s tone was condescending and his words were inflammatory. And I can’t say I disagree. Chinabounder responded to Zhang on August 29th, the last post before the hiatus, calling him and the rest of China’s professors “Knee-jerk nationalists like this, myopic, thoughtless, a crass dolt who thinks like a sheep, rages like a hyena, and is impotent like a mule.” And I thought I was edgy. Friday’s post “A New Girl” is probably the most explosive and fearless writing I have ever read in China. And I must say, this guy, whomever he is, is a fantastic writer. Chinabounder, in his post, questions why his blog generated more outrage than two incidents of teachers killing students that occurred at the same time as the manhunt. He calls out the Chinese government and media and concludes by writing, “Shame on the citizens of China! Your children are dying and your silence is complicit in their death.” Jeez Louise. What do you need to do to get censored around here? Do yourself a favor and read the post.
•Sex and Shanghai: A New Girl
•DNA India: Sex Blog Triggers Manhunt in Shanghai (8/28/06)