People From Beijing

"We should not be immeasurably satisfied with the qualities of a mediocre person, but we should also avoid artificial modesty."

"In interactions with friends, we all care about examining each others’ images, and we carefully emphasize the images that we present to our friends. The closer one is with someone, the more we care about this. People never want to feel insignificant in the eyes of someone else, unless we despise this person and want them to quickly forget us."

"People always love expressing themselves, and they often pretend to be modest in their words, saying that they are no good at this or that. This is particularly common among friends. But even if people are actually modest, there is no benefit to their behavior."

"Feelings are better with a bit of depth. Many revolutionary leaps and achievements are accompanied by the colors of romance. Being able to remember the past with sentimentality is therefore a type of virtue. Regarding melancholy, I don’t like this emotion."

"Friends, after all, are supposed to mutually help each other, mutually understand each other. Keeping one’s strengths secret doesn’t only prevent one’s friends from knowing you; it also prevents one’s friends from advancing and learning from your strengths. Many such good strengths have been destroyed by the vanity of the petty bourgeoisie."

"Images of people actually objectively exist, and on some levels they reflect the peoples’ innermost worlds, including their thoughts, qualities, and personalities. Though some peoples’ actions do not match their words, I think this can be controlled. These people can hide their feelings. But hypocrites who perform as upright people aren’t very convincing."

"We don’t only depend on “images” to arouse passion and excitement in our lives. More importantly, we must have a rational spirit and help each other move forward. After all, “images” are just a means of getting one’s foot in the door."

"People from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family and should help each other."

"The two sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family."

"The difference in our systems is not an obstacle for reunification (between Mainland China and Taiwan), nor it is an excuse for secession."

"Promotion of cross strait-ties is in the general interest of China, and improving relations conforms to trends of the times. It's in the interests of both sides. No matter the weather, people on both sides of the strait remain united with shared nationality, shared cultural identity and shared emotions. Despite ups and downs, the trend is still to go forward. People in (Mainland) China and Taiwan share a common destiny, and the yearning for closer relations is unanimous, and unstoppable."

"The fire in my heart is turned to ashes. I feel like a monk; Only my head is still unshaven.O poor heart! How wind and rain have worn you out! How the partings from friends, dead and alive, Have torn you to pieces!This orphan-like candlestick Appears like an old friend to me.There remains one thing alone That keeps me from a complete Awakening:— Love still smoulders in the ashes of my heart!"

"The real challenges for Wikipedia are to resolve the governance disputes — the tensions among foundation employees, longtime editors trying to protect their prerogatives, and new volunteers trying to break in — and to design a mobile-oriented editing environment."

"Could the pressure from mobile, and the internal tensions, tear Wikipedia apart? A world without it seems unimaginable, but consider the fate of other online communities."

"Wikipedia has come a long way since it started in 2001. With around 70,000 volunteers editing in over 100 languages, it is by far the world’s most popular reference site. Its future is also uncertain. One of the biggest threats it faces is the rise of smartphones as the dominant personal computing device. ... The pool of potential Wikipedia editors could dry up as the number of mobile users keeps growing; it’s simply too hard to manipulate complex code on a tiny screen."

"The worst scenario is an end to Wikipedia, not with a bang but with a whimper: a long, slow decline in participation, accuracy and usefulness that is not quite dramatic enough to jolt the community into making meaningful reforms. No effort in history has gotten so much information at so little cost into the hands of so many — a feat made all the more remarkable by the absence of profit and owners. In an age of Internet giants, this most selfless of websites is worth saving."

"What has not suffered is fund-raising. The foundation, based in San Francisco, has a budget of roughly $60 million. How to fairly distribute resources has long been a topic of debate. How much should go to regional chapters and affiliates, or to groups devoted to non-English languages? How much should stay in the foundation to develop software, create mobile apps and maintain infrastructure? These tensions run through the community."

"Let me tell you, world, I—do—not—believe! If a thousand challengers lie beneath your feet, Count me as number one thousand and one.I don't believe the sky is blue: I don't believe in thunder's echoes; I don't believe that dreams are false: I don't believe that death has no revenge."

"I am no hero In an age without heroes I just want to be a man"

"I will not kneel on the ground Allowing the executioners to look tall The better to obstruct the wind of freedom"

"Freedom is nothing but the distance between the hunter and the hunted"

"a perpetual stranger am I to the world I don't understand its language my silence it can't comprehend"

"we are not guiltless long ago we became accomplices of the history in the mirror"

"I could have done a lot of Hollywood movies. After Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon I got a lot of offers, but I turned them down because they were all victim roles—poor girls sold to America to be a wife or whatever. I know I have the ability to go deeper, to take on more original roles than that. That's why I really appreciated Geisha, because it allowed us to show the world what kind of actors we are and what kind of characters we can play—not just action, kick-ass parts."

"...谓本朝以满洲之君，入为中国之主... (I am an emperor of Manchu, become the master of all China.)"

"The seditious rebels claim that we are the rulers of Manchuria and only later penetrated central China to become its rulers. Their prejudices concerning the division of their and our country have caused many vitriolic falsehoods. What these rebels have not understood is the fact that Manchuria is for the Manchus the same as the birthplace is for the people of the central plain. Shun belonged to the Eastern Yi, and King Wen to the Western Yi. Does this fact diminish their virtues? ()"

""朕以外國之君,主中國之事." (I am a barbarian foreign monarch, ruling China)"

"The accusation is always that I'm 'reactionary'."

"They didn't begin telling the truth in the Soviet Union until after it collapsed, did they?"

"All these things have happened in our history, and we need to talk about them. What kind of country are we that our history is so tragic?"

"The [Regulations on the Ideological and Political Work of the Communist Party of China] are a reminder that in Xi’s China, thought is not free—it’s curated, measured, and mandatory. And while the language is wrapped in bureaucratic velvet, the message is steel: think as the Party thinks, or don’t think at all."

"Thank you very much Mr President (Xi Jinping) for such a warm and friendly welcome. I am delighted to meet you again. I have wonderful memories of my first visit to China, seven years ago, and of your visit to Italy five years ago. I am still grateful to you for visiting my Region, Sicily. I considered it a gesture of friendship for which I am grateful to you. When we met in Rome you asked me to return to China in the year we celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations. Unfortunately what happened later with the pandemic, with the suffering we all suffered, prevented us from doing so. But since friendship is also about remembrance, it is about keeping commitments and keeping promises, I am happy to be here again in China to reaffirm our friendship, our desire for growing cooperation."

"I consider Xi Jinping the most dangerous enemy of open societies in the world."

"Xi Jinping is quite self-confident. If you listen to him, it’s clear that he believes that authoritarianism is the way forward. He’s expressing that in Hong Kong, with threats against the Uyghur population, and with threats toward Taiwan."

"There is nothing new in Xi’s claim that there is no universal notion of [civil] rights; that each country has the right to define “[civil] rights” as it sees fit; and that the West pretends to impose under the false idea of “universal” [civil] rights its own bourgeois notion of these rights."

"In September 2018, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro visited China, where he met with China’s President Xi Jinping and signed a series of important agreements on trade and culture. Toward the end of his stay, Maduro said that the two countries had built “a relationship of mutual benefit, of shared gain.” Among these agreements was one that highlights the depth of the collaboration: this was for China to participate with the Great Venezuela Housing Mission (GMVV) to build more than 13,000 homes in the El Valle parish in Caracas. The focus of the international media has been on the oil trade between China and Venezuela, and in the aid from China to Venezuela; but the connections go deeper, into the social life of the people who are struggling to emerge from deprivation... China, Arreaza (foreign minister of Venezuela) says, trades with countries without interference in their internal affairs. This is quite different from the Western model, notably that overseen by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which pushes for structural adjustment alongside loans. Because China respects the sovereign choices of a country, Arreaza told me, “China has proven to be a reliable partner for the region and it can continue to play a key role in our development for many years to come.”"

": It was a couple of years ago. Before we get started-- with- we're going talk about the economy and a lot of other things--the CDC-- has identified a case of coronavirus-- in Washington state. The strain of this. If you remember , that affected GDP. Travel-related effects. Do you-- have you been briefed by the CDC? And--"

"According to [[Mike Pompeo|Pompeo [U.S. Secretary of State] ]], CCP general secretary Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) harbor a “decades-long desire for global hegemony.” This is ironic. Only one country – the US – has a defense strategy calling for it to be the “preeminent military power in the world,” with “favorable regional balances of power in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere.” China’s defense white paper, by contrast, states that “China will never follow the beaten track of big powers in seeking hegemony,” and that, “As economic globalization, the information society, and cultural diversification develop in an increasingly multi-polar world, peace, development, and win-win cooperation remain the irreversible trends of the times.” US military spending totaled $732 billion in 2019, nearly three times the $261 billion China spent. The US.. has around 800 overseas military bases, while China has just one (a small naval base in Djibouti)."

"My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?"

"As we tried to make sense of Donald Trump's positions or when one of us tried to argue against them, we first had to ask: Why is the president so attracted to autocrats? After a contentious meeting about the president's engagement with a foreign dictator, a top national security aide offered me his take. "The president sees in these guys what he wishes he had: total power, no term limits, enforced popularity, and the ability to silence critics for good." He was spot on. It was the simplest explanation... He celebrated Chinese president Xi Jinping's move to permanently install himself in office for life, calling it an "extraordinary elevation," and telling him privately that he was a "king" for having made the bold move."

"Trump spoke with Xi Jinping by phone on June 18, ahead of 2019's Osaka G20 summit, when they would next meet. Trump began by telling Xi he missed him and then said that the most popular thing he had ever been involved with was making a trade deal with China, which would be a big plus politically. They agreed their economic teams could continue meeting. The G20 bilateral arrived, and during the usual media mayhem at the start, Trump said, "we've become friends. My trip to Beijing with my family was one of the most incredible of my life." With the press gone, Xi said this is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. He said that some (unnamed) political figures in the United States were making erroneous judgments by calling for a new cold war, this time between China and the United States. Whether Xi meant to finger the Democrats, or some of us sitting on the US side of the table, I don't know, but Trump immediately assumed Xi meant the Democrats. Trump said approvingly that there was great hostility among the Democrats. He then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming US presidential election, alluding to China's economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he'd win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome. I would print Trump's exact words, but the government's prepublication review process has decided otherwise."

"Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!"

"We have a very good relationship. People say we have the best relationship of any President-President, because he's called President also. Now some people might call him the King of China, but he's called President."

"I think that Chairman Xi’s courage tackling corruption is an important matter in the development of Chinese society. I also look forward to him showing a bit more flexibility in dealing with cross-strait relations. I hope that he can appreciate that Taiwan is a democratic society in which the leader has to follow the will of the people."

"Beginning in the late 1970s, China overcame centuries of stagnation precisely because Mao’s successors understood that they had to decentralise the People’s Republic, giving economic if not political power to the people. If western commentators are right, Xi Jinping wants to go in the opposite direction. If the Chinese are lucky, he will turn out to be an enlightened absolutist, like Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew. If they are unlucky, he will be just another emperor who fondly dreamt of controlling a fifth of humanity."

"Whatever stage of development it may reach, China will never pursue hegemony or expansion, and will never impose its will on others. China does not seek spheres of influence, and will not fight a cold war or a hot war with anyone. … China will remain committed to dialogue and oppose confrontation and build partnerships instead of alliances. It will continue to pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. The modernization we are pursuing is not for China alone we are ready to work with all countries to advance global modernization featuring peaceful development mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity and to build a community with a shared future for mankind. … No matter how the global landscape evolves, the historical trend of peaceful coexistence between China and the United States will not change."

"Long as the journey is, we will surely reach our destination when we stay the course."

"Today, humanity again has to choose between peace and war, dialogue and confrontation, win-win cooperation and zero-sum game. The Chinese people firmly stand on the right side of history and the progress of human civilization. We will remain committed to the path of peaceful development, and join hands with all peoples around the world in building a community with a shared future for humanity."

"Xi Jinping is one of the strongest and most capable revolutionary leaders I have met in my life."

"The fundamentals of China’s economy, characterized by strong resilience, enormous potential, ample room for policy adjustment and long-term sustainability, will remain sound. This will greatly boost the stability and recovery of the world economy and provide more market opportunities for other countries."