Han Han (韓寒) is the most popular blogger in the world, included in New Statesman’s “The World’s 50 Most Influential Figures 2010” and a rally driver – but is his blog actually that good? And why does he get millions of hits per day while Brush Duck has only had 198 ever?
To find out I have translated his latest post from his blog Too Cold So Warm, a thriller with a social conscience:
Who are you, why are you asking this?
I remember last summer, when I went to a competition in Chengdu, I passed the City Government buildings. Of course I did not know for sure that they were City Government buildings, but Chinese administrative buildings have a very distinct quality that you can recognise them. Like when a girl stands on the side of the street you always know she is a prostitute. At this time I said to my friend, who have these buildings been auctioned to? My friend said one word; fart.
At the time of the 2008 earthquake of Wenchuan, the Chengdu Government proclaimed that the newly established Government buildings would be auctioned, with all the proceeds being put towards the recovery process in the disaster area, and this news had evoked a great level of interest and good feeling in the people. I am a very naïve person, I thought this type of situation and this type of talk was genuine. At that time I thought there must be a hundred large corporations that would purchase the buildings, to base their headquarters there, not only for the convenient traffic links, but also because if there were another earthquake they would certainly not collapse. My friend said that the Government had already secretly snuck in.
Han Han wishing he wrote for a blog with film reviews based on trailers
Consequently I wanted to ask in the second issue of 独唱团 (Han Han’s magazine, Party, which seems to have folded after one issue) what the true reason was for the failure to auction the Government buildings, hoping to find a clear answer. But in order to save the environment I will post it here. Thanks go to student Cai Lei (蔡蕾) for his help.
I truly feel that if they wished to occupy the building they just should have. But to claim to donate more than 20亿* of Government building, but then only to contribute one piece of seemingly positive news is totally unfair.
At this point Han Han posts his article intended for独唱团
问知情人
At the time of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the Chengdu government said that it would put to auction its brand new buildings, with the proceeds going towards the disaster relief. I wanted to know what had happened to the buildings – how much money had been raised?
The Chengdu journalist Zheng Mou (郑某) answered not one wisp of cloud.
The construction of the Chengdu administration’s new headquarters began in 2004, and was completed in 2007, occupying 255 亩**, costing around 12亿元*** (reportedly not including the price of the land), and incorporating a high grade conference centre, visitor centre etc. Based on pictures leaked on the internet, it has been called ‘China’s most luxurious Government building’.
According to plans, the Chengdu City Committee, the National People’s Congress, City Hall, Municipal Administrations Courts, Prosecutor’s Office, close to 70 departments, would move into the centre in 2008. However just as the relocation process was commencing, the Wenchuan earthquake struck. On the 15th of July, a Chengdu City Committee member stated that the new Government building would be auctioned, with all the proceeds given to the disaster relief programme, but this was the last that Chengdu residents would read in the media about the new office building.
Ordinary companies would not be able to afford an office space taking up 255 亩, and ones who could would not be unlikely to deal with such a difficult situation, as the auction was by no means formal and seemed already to have fallen through. At the current time, Chengdu City government departments have already stealthily occupied the building, while it is clear that the media has been forbidden to report on the Government building and the moving arrangements.
In the last few days I have telephoned the Chengdu administration’s general office, the dialogue was as follows. Question: ‘When will the entire City Government more into the new building?’ Answer: ‘We are not clear about this’. Response: ‘After the earthquake wasn’t the building to be sold, what’s up with that?’ Response: ‘Who are you? Why are you asking this?’ I respond: ‘I am an ordinary citizen, I want to understand the state of affairs’. Response: ‘We are not too clear’. Question: ‘So who is clear? I ought to speak with that department?’ Respons: I don’t know. (Phone hangs up).
Soon after I dial the Mayor’s hotline, 12345. After hearing the call back tone, the phone informs me ‘the line you have called is busy’. I called again in the morning, afternoon and at night, and everytime ‘the line you have called is busy’. I also sent SMS messages to the Mayor’s inquiry mailbox, and at the time of writing have yet to receive a response.
* what? um think that’s 20 x 100 million rmb, so maybe £20,000,000,000
** mu! Unit of area equal to one fifteenth of a hectare. So 38250000 square metres.
*** £12,000,000,000
At this point 6327 of the readers post their comments.
So does he deserve to hold onto his crown as blogger #1? One comment would make me happy. And not on the mistakes in my translation!
More thrilling yarns are available at http://blog.sina.com.cn/twocold
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