又一个人离乡背井

余杰终于背井离乡了。我没见过余杰，知道这名字好多年了，也读过他写的不少痛斥专制、抨击时弊的文章。从其文章里，我看到他的良知、对虚伪的厌恶以及对正义的执着。中国文人无数，但像象余杰这样文人太少了。 除了像余杰这样寥寥几个人在呐喊，其他所谓文人、精英和知识人绝大多数良心被狗吃了，被政府“施舍”的利益收买了，剩下的或是吓破胆或是被噤声了。这些无耻的文人、精英和知识人失去了人格与立场，为权贵和无赖涂脂抹粉，为独裁政府歌功颂德。社会上存在的不公、腐败、黑暗除源于肆无忌惮的专制外，更有源于这些甘当犬儒的人。

祝福余杰及家人在美国一切顺利！

Havana Journal(7)

Havana’s Chinatown was on our itinerary list. It was about a 30-minute walk. We decided to cab there because we did not how to bus. The driver of a state-operated cab outside our hotel charged us 8 CUCs and refused our bargain. We walked away. 

After a block down we was approached by a Cuban driving a Volkswagen. He asked us in good English if we needed a ride. I knew it was a private car because it had a yellow plate. In Cuba the colour of a vehicle plate tells something. I am familiar with this colour-coding system because China adopted a similar system from former Soviet Union.

I asked the driver how much he would charge for a ride to Chinatown. 

“Ten” was his answer. 
“Peso or CUC?” I asked, even though I would know the answer. 
“CUC” was his reply. 

I shook my head and then said “tres” (which means 3). He replied no. Then a bargaining process began. An agreement price of 5 CUCs was reached. When we got into his Volkswagen, the driver complained he could not make much due to the gas price. I knew the gas price in Cuba was very high, higher than that USA. I asked the driver where he learned his English. He said his English was self-taught. He learned Russian in high school and university. He bought his 2001 Volkswagen a year ago for $7,000. 

“In US dollars?” I asked. 
“Yes” was his answer.

We arrived in Chinatown before I had a chance to ask the driver if he was doing a second or illegal job. He told us there was only one authentic Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Others were not. Later we found what he said was incorrect.

Like many other Chinatowns Havana’s version has a pailou or entrance archway that symbolizes the edge of Chinatown’s territory. It is not the case in Havana’s Chinatown. Its entrance is several blocks away from the pailou. Before I came to Havana’s Chinatown, I did some online research. The pailou was built in 1998, a gift from the Chinese government. The architecture is just a facade, and several blocks behind it is a mere shadow of what was once the largest Chinatown in Latin America.

It is the worst Chinatown I have been to. Its entrance looks cheap and poorly designed. There are a number of Chinese restaurants and stores.

The history of Havana’s Chinatown can be traced back to 1847 when the first wave of Chinese contracted labourers arrived in Cuba to work in sugar plantations. At the end of their work contracts some remained and moved to settle in the current location called Calle Cuchillo. A Chinatown was gradually formed.

Later waves of Chinese immigrants followed. Chinatown flourished and became the largest Chinatown in Latin America until 1959 when communist Castro swept to power. The revolution drove most Chinese to emigrate to the United States. Of those who had to or chose to remain, most intermarried and assimilated into Cuban society. 

By late 1980′s, there were only a few hundred Chinese in Cuba. The Chinatown was on the brink of extinction. It came to life in 1990′s after the Cuban authorities opened up some parts of the country to tourism and improved its relationship with China. However, much of the Chinatown remains in a state of disrepair. The restaurants and shops that have been restored and repaired look new and unreal. 

We ate in Havana’s Chinatown twice. I can say there is no authentic Chinese food. There are two Chinese restaurants run by a sister and a brother from Shanghai. They were in late thirties and took over the family business from their father. The sister married a Cuban Chinese. The brother married a Cuban woman. I learned their stories when we ate twice in their restaurants. The two restaurants were next to each other. At lunch time we ate at the one of their restaurants and ordered half a roasted duck and a seafood dish for about US$30. We made a  mistake. The duck looked like a local wild one. Its meat was thin and tough to bite. 

After lunch we decided to walk around Chinatown. It took us less than 20 minutes to complete our exploration, including its restaurants, shops and neighbouring areas. It was hard to judge how big Chinatown is. Some signs of Chinese characters were seen on the facades of residential buildings in back alleys or the areas where restaurants and shops were located, however we did not see any Chinese living there. 

At supper we went to the second restaurant owned by the Shanghai immigrants. Before we ordered, we had a chat with the original owner, the father of the brother and sister. We complained to the old man about the taste of the lunch food in their restaurants. He said we went to the wrong restaurant which catered to non-Chinese. The owner said many of his customers are Chinese students, Chinese and other Asian diplomats. He promised the restaurant we came into could cook authentic Chinese dishes. With some hesitation we ordered something simple, Yangchun noodles, wonton and a cucumber side dish. When the food was delivered to the table, we thought we were cheated again, though we did not question the owner about the authenticity of the food. I am not a good cook, but I can promise I cook much better food than that we ate in the two restaurants in Havana’s Chinatown.

Frankly, Havana’s Chinatown is mainly a showcase of tourism. Cheap food is nowhere to be found. All the waiters and waitresses who were dressed in traditional Chinese qipao were black or dark Cubans. They knew only a few Chinese words. 

After our visit to Havana’s Chinatown I experienced a mixed feeling. Part of me felt profoundly sad that it past glory had diminished. It is unlikely that the current Chinatown will recapture its glory past. 

迷信的共产党

 目前世界上躺在水晶棺里的有四具尸体：列宁，胡志明，毛泽东，金日成。最近，又加上一具：金正日，一共五具。之前，曾享受水晶棺后来又被百姓毁掉的尸体也是共产党人，包括保加利亚共产党头目季米特洛夫、蒙古共产党头目乔巴桑死、苏共的斯大林和捷克斯洛伐克共产党头目歌特瓦尔德。

 保存遗体是共产国的传统，他们偏爱领袖的尸体。这些高呼“解放全人类”的政党，一个以实现“共产主义”为最终目标的政党，一个深信“从来就没有救世主”的政党，居然对其领导人的僵尸如此迷信，难道他们真的是人类的救世主？

那几个水晶棺里躺的，不过是使用现代技术制成的不能食用的蜡肉，罩住蜡肉的那块红布其实是一件不体面的寿衣。

 

 

 

人与魔

两天内，两名人去世。哈维尔逝世，有点良心的都难过。金正日去世，除了菩萨，SB和魔才难过。据说还有给朝鲜发唁电，那发唁电的肯定是SB或魔了。不是人们漠视生命，而是他们更尊重生命的价值。金还有和金称兄道弟的人，他们活着是对生命的污辱。

一反抗压迫追求自由的人走了，一三代世袭专制的人走了。对此赞誉还是唾弃，是衡量人与魔的标准。中共的好朋友多半是魔，像朝鲜、津巴布韦、古巴、委内瑞拉，还有过去的利比亚、埃及，好像还有伊朗。他们相互见面时，特亲热，爱拥抱，爱亲嘴。

黑帮？还是？

经过了所谓三十年的改革，中国大陆发生了翻天地覆的变化，制度除外。

这国家的法制是由一些所谓的精英设计的。三十多年里，党颁布了连法学院教授、法官、律师都不知道多少的法律法规，制定了一套套的程序和实施细则，然后做出了各种各样有时又互相矛盾的司法解释。司法人的素质有了大幅度的提高，从以前的老粗，到现在的博士硕士。还有官服、法槌的引进。有人说，这是法制的进步。说这话的人，不是SB，就是既得利益者。

在这里，许多事是不能立案的，即使受理了，或是从此没了答案。个别的确实立了案，但等着你的是败诉是毫无疑问的，是不能质疑的。上诉？上吧，或不受理，或维持原判。一些一而再再而三的投诉人会无缘无故地消失，一些人未经审判便失去了自由，一些人被称作“上访人员”被强迫赶回老家，或关进监牢，或关进疯人院。

其实，除了SB，谁（包括为中共帮腔的所谓精英）都知道，三十年里的法制变化都是发生在纸上的。最后决定权还是握在一个名叫共产党的手里。一个案子的定案或翻案（特别是那些政治性或敏感案件），不是有法官说的算，而是法官的领导说了算。

总觉得，这个控制法官说话和判案的党比黑帮还黑帮。

sent from my Facebook

博客与日记

论写博客的资历，在下是老手了。博客发明时，我就写了，那该是1997年事了。博客其实就是一个人网页或网站，内容各异。网页或网站可公开、半公开或隐蔽。博客也一样，有公开、半公开和隐蔽的。这些功能由博主操作。

在下的博客是日记的变种。年轻时，养成了记日记的恶习，直到现在。其间，有短暂中断，但不多。以前日记是记在纸上，之后记在电子邮件里（发给自己的电子邮件）、再之后写在隐蔽的私人网页里，现在写在叫博客的网页里，只有个别篇的日记被公开，或者说变成博文了。这被公开的日记不是直接贴到博客里，而是被加以修饰过。日记与博文毕竟风格不同，日记是给自己看的，博文是给别人看的。给自己看的，写得像流水账或文句不通时，也无所谓。写给别人看的，就得在文字上写得通顺些，否则让人笑话或是对别人不尊重。

为什么要写博？不知道。也许是一种习惯，一种嗜好，就像有人喜欢下棋打麻将。许多人写博是为他人写，或为名写。我写博还未到到这境界。那些为他人或为名写博的人，写博时势必投他人所好，或者说有作秀的倾向，这是很令人讨厌的。在公众视野里（如公开的博客里），一个人审视他人或他事时往往十分刻薄，审视自己时往往非常自私，或者美化自己。我们常见骂别人是王八蛋的人，没见过骂自己是王八蛋的人，这现象也出现在公开的博客里。

记日记就不同了，因它被锁定在很隐蔽的空间里，别人看不到。在下在日记里骂过自己，遭践过自己，却很少在博客里这样做。

博客是作秀，日记是生活。写博的是假人，记日记的是真人。