tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post3855818452954632954..comments2024-03-28T16:47:51.948-04:00Comments on Murder is Everywhere: Vacation-style medical treatmentOvidia Yuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749549092493567689noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-5686457935561509862013-08-19T18:20:46.554-04:002013-08-19T18:20:46.554-04:00Ack, thanks Samuel! I'll see if I can remember...Ack, thanks Samuel! I'll see if I can remember how to make strike-outs on my keyboard and correct that. Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-22256067643927049152013-08-19T17:48:26.772-04:002013-08-19T17:48:26.772-04:00Great account! But Bo was actually party secretary...Great account! But Bo was actually party secretary (i.e. chief) of Chongqing, with Wang Hongju and then Huang Qifan serving as mayor under him. He'd previously been mayor of Dalian.Samuel Wadehttp://samuelwa.denoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-36973515482418481172013-08-19T09:55:15.827-04:002013-08-19T09:55:15.827-04:00AHHH! And another thing? The herbal medicine she w...AHHH! And another thing? The herbal medicine she was taking was Tibetan caterpillar fungus! Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-43490219527717759542013-08-18T22:23:50.419-04:002013-08-18T22:23:50.419-04:00Speechless. Just shaking my head, because, no mat...Speechless. Just shaking my head, because, no matter HOW far out there you think humans are, there's always more that are twice as far from the trunk!Everett Kaserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371555243187874414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-14665267123826635602013-08-18T16:46:48.158-04:002013-08-18T16:46:48.158-04:00To be fair to Guagua...oh, never mind, why should ...To be fair to Guagua...oh, never mind, why should I? I'm sure he's no worse than many of these Hong Er Dai kids and probably better than some. Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-50867298507885179152013-08-18T16:45:40.710-04:002013-08-18T16:45:40.710-04:00I live to aid you in your procrastination, Brendan...I live to aid you in your procrastination, Brendan...Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-57911241652444240122013-08-18T16:26:33.631-04:002013-08-18T16:26:33.631-04:00Or set it in Hong Kong to distance the Mainland. T...Or set it in Hong Kong to distance the Mainland. Those corrupt Hong Kong people!Diana R. Chambershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11935747113595056196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-27979269084903687512013-08-18T16:25:24.288-04:002013-08-18T16:25:24.288-04:00Dude, I'm just avoiding deadline work -- don&#...Dude, I'm just avoiding deadline work -- don't encourage me! But thanks. Brendanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15081849128843794168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-34638451227660258692013-08-18T16:24:01.577-04:002013-08-18T16:24:01.577-04:00OMG, that picture!OMG, that picture!Diana R. Chambershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11935747113595056196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-3691732790100325362013-08-18T16:23:02.119-04:002013-08-18T16:23:02.119-04:00Hi Brendan (Lisa told me to be sure to read your c...Hi Brendan (Lisa told me to be sure to read your comments and I can see why!): I read in WSJ yesterday that Beijing is walking a fine line in trial: to send anti-corruption message, but not so severely as to lose support of other princelings.Diana R. Chambershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11935747113595056196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-52031089425750294882013-08-18T16:12:26.945-04:002013-08-18T16:12:26.945-04:00Thanks for writing this all up-- I had been follow...Thanks for writing this all up-- I had been following the story on and off since the murder made the news, but I hadn't been able to make heads or tails of a lot of it. Just when you think it can't get any crazier. . .Daisy Batemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10031425541717458261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-43668457308056916632013-08-18T16:03:54.563-04:002013-08-18T16:03:54.563-04:00He's no doubt spinning in his grave so hard th...He's no doubt spinning in his grave so hard that he's digging a hole to America.Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-42742020264400528152013-08-18T16:03:28.014-04:002013-08-18T16:03:28.014-04:00And, yeah. For a supposedly "shame-based"...And, yeah. For a supposedly "shame-based" culture, the ruling class doesn't seem to have much of it. <br /><br />Blog readers, if it was not abundantly obvious, Brendan is the real expert on this and so many other China topics. I'm thrilled to have his analysis here! Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-1843928465098433332013-08-18T16:00:04.493-04:002013-08-18T16:00:04.493-04:00Pop a batch for me, Brendan. I for one am looking ...Pop a batch for me, Brendan. I for one am looking forward to your Weibo journalism, since my Chinese ain't even close to up to the task. <br /><br />I forgot to mention the post-Bo purge coup rumors, too. Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-465646049231292152013-08-18T15:53:48.719-04:002013-08-18T15:53:48.719-04:00Yes - the general lack of trust in the system is g...Yes - the general lack of trust in the system is going to make the trial and the fallout therefrom very interesting to watch, particularly when you consider that Bo Xilai has still got a lot of fans -- some of whom are not even totally crazy. There are plenty of people in Dalian and Chongqing who think Bo was on their side, and that he got set up because his populist rhetoric ruffled too many feathers. The first comment I saw on the Jinan Intermediate People's Court's <a href="e.weibo.com/3708524475/A5jMV1frc" rel="nofollow">Weibo posting announcing the trial date</a> was "一帮子秦桧审岳飞!" -- "A pack of quisling <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Hui_(Song_Dynasty)" rel="nofollow">Qin Hui</a>s sitting in judgment on the loyal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_Fei" rel="nofollow">Yue Fei</a>!"(This is going to be a bad couple of weeks for Weibo-based journalism, I can tell. Even <em>I'm</em> doing it.) <br /><br />The delay in bringing Bo to trial is very telling: there are a lot of material interests, personal loyalties, and factional allegiances grinding against each other here, and Bo is obviously not going to go down without a fight. <br />The system takes care of its own. They'll keep Liu Xia under illegal house arrest and sentence her brother to 11 years in jail on manifestly laughable charges without batting an eye -- the concept of "shame" is alien to them -- but there's obviously been a ton of behind-the-scenes maneuvering to get even this relatively light set of charges against Bo. And probably with good reason: one of the things that the Garnault book makes clear is that Bo was exceptional only insofar as he was <em>visibly</em> ravening for power.<br /><br />So <em>I'm</em> making popcorn, anyway.Brendanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15081849128843794168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-61771334793199943312013-08-18T15:52:31.042-04:002013-08-18T15:52:31.042-04:00One thing in Bo's favor -- Bo GuaGua looks lik...One thing in Bo's favor -- Bo GuaGua looks like an upstanding son of the revolution.<br /><br />Can't help but wonder what would Mao have done if someone had slipped this picture back through time to say. "This is where The Long March actually leads."Timothy Hallinanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00551263887774445511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-42053733065826340782013-08-18T15:33:08.719-04:002013-08-18T15:33:08.719-04:00I have been working on a blog about cable network ...I have been working on a blog about cable network miniseries. I think I will put it up next week. With copious references to this story. As for cherchez-la-femme, as far as I can see, it is almost never the evil consort who is the real villain. Annamaria Alfierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12311596277267789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-88187521062975547372013-08-18T15:24:24.603-04:002013-08-18T15:24:24.603-04:00Thanks for this, Brendan! I'd forgotten about ...Thanks for this, Brendan! I'd forgotten about the Horus part -- and I hadn't known that Son #1 was suspected of poisoning Gu!<br /><br />I agree with you about the body double. If you look at her the facial features seem to line up to Gu's, and, yeah, what would the motivation be to have let her do it? Unless she was so bat-shit that they were afraid of what she might do in a courtroom. But it's indicative of how crazy the system is that so many people believed it was possible. <br /><br />And yeah, the demonization of Gu is a very familiar trope indeed. It's only too bad that she didn't say she's was Bo's dog in her trial...Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-43851198578716834962013-08-18T15:15:45.222-04:002013-08-18T15:15:45.222-04:00And I thought politics were strange HERE!And I thought politics were strange HERE!Marihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11028450134783487993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-70111375861211758192013-08-18T15:14:36.398-04:002013-08-18T15:14:36.398-04:00Someone really needs to do it!Someone really needs to do it!Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-73233592341705802082013-08-18T15:12:37.329-04:002013-08-18T15:12:37.329-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-59387157478198976882013-08-18T15:04:10.431-04:002013-08-18T15:04:10.431-04:00Years ago, Bad Dave and I spent long nights at Ami...Years ago, Bad Dave and I spent long nights at Amilal planning out a Chinese version of The Wire. (My contribution was to suggest that it would have to be about the real-estate industry, rather than drugs.) I'm pretty sure you could come up with a plausible transculturation of House of Cards by lightly fictionalizing the entirety of 2012 -- like, change a name or two maybe -- and calling it a day.Brendanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15081849128843794168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-77925898389475390762013-08-18T15:02:22.324-04:002013-08-18T15:02:22.324-04:00The 替身/body-double speculation struck me as a bit ...The 替身/body-double speculation struck me as a bit out there for a few reasons:<br /><br />1) Why on earth would these guys allow her to get away?<br />2) Months of Chinese prison food (potatoes, cabbage, mantou) will make anyone fat, even without the added factor of <br />3) Anti-depressants and/or anti-psychotics in quantities sufficient to stop an incipient dynastic rebellion. By all accounts, Gu had had the <em>bad</em> crazy for quite some time before the whole Neil Heywood/Wang Lijun thing, and was quite manifestly bugfuck. Also:<br />4) 1.6 billion people in China, access to basically unlimited amounts of money, and <em>that's</em> the best they could do for a look-alike? <br /><br />Meanwhile, the backstory for Gu Kailai is even weirder and more wonderful than has been generally acknowledged: Bo Xilai had previously been married to Li Danyu, the daughter of Li Xuefeng (Beijing's chief Party secretary and an alternate member of the Politburo -- obviously Bo couldn't just marry a <em>commoner</em>), but after meeting Gu Kailai he dropped Li like a regrettable three-year famin-- --er, natural disaster. Bo and Li had a son, Li Wangzhi (aka "Brendan Li," apparently -- sweet!), who now <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-22/bo-xilai-clan-links-included-citigroup-hiring-of-his-elder-son.html" rel="nofollow">works at Citibank</a>. Bo and Gu believed (or at least claimed to believe) that Brendan Li was the anonymous malefactor who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/world/asia/new-details-of-how-gu-kailai-thought-she-was-poisoned.html" rel="nofollow">slipped lead and mercury into Gu's herbal medicines</a>, causing irreparable neural damage. The discovery of this in 2007 may have been one of the factors in Gu's subsequent conviction that people were out to kill her -- which, if the narrative about Neil Heywood's murder is true (something I wouldn't bet on), was what set the whole hotel murder plot rolling in the first place.<br /><br />Additional fun fact that I couldn't work in above: Gu went by the "English" name "Horus," as in "Horus, the Egyptian god born of Isis after she collected the dismembered limbs of her husband Osiris, fled her evil brother Set, and impregnated herself with a gold phallus." Her law firm was called "Law Office of Horus L. Kai."<br /><br />Bonus consideration: Bo's relatives are now telling anyone who will listen (which is to say, <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1297058/bo-xilais-downfall-his-wifes-fault-say-relatives" rel="nofollow">the SCMP</a>) that everything was the fault of Gu Kailai, who was greedy and power-mad and etc. This is a plenty familiar trope: compare to the claims made about the empress Wu Zetian, or about the Empress Dowager Cixi, or -- especially! -- about Jiang Qing, the fall girl for the Cultural Revolution. Not to say that Gu isn't <em>also</em>a remorseless sociopath to whom conscience is a stranger -- pretty much everyone in that world is, I think -- but it's something to keep in mind all the same.Brendanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15081849128843794168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-30603800382017637292013-08-18T14:19:13.523-04:002013-08-18T14:19:13.523-04:00I sure wish that American TV was not so resistant ...I sure wish that American TV was not so resistant to doing stories with a primarily Chinese (or non-white of any sort) cast -- can you imagine the mini-series HBO or AMC would make out of this? Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-59636021800137625982013-08-18T12:31:37.890-04:002013-08-18T12:31:37.890-04:00What a tale. I've been exposed to bits and pi...What a tale. I've been exposed to bits and pieces of it too, but never heard the whole story. As for the appropriate vehicle for telling it to the world in a believable fashion, perhaps it's one of those things that simply must go directly to film. And if they can get Gerard Depardieu to play Dominique Strauss-Kahn, for sure Johnny Depp must be available for the role of Bo--or Gu, or both, or all of the above.Jeffrey Sigerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00718317707555064653noreply@blogger.com