China's Mistress Culture: Sex And Power Are A Pair / 中国情妇文化：性与权力结伴同行

This Chinese translation of my article on China's Mistress Culture showed up at Topnews9. It didn't say the translator, though.

A scene from The Golden Lotus/Jin Pin Mei.

中国情妇文化：性与权力结伴同行

裴德思/作者

我必须告诉你一件有关中国的事：中国女人的作用，从道德层面而言可谓是“别出心裁”。

 
没有一家宾馆，按摩院，ktv或者城镇会议中心不是被“小姐”，护送人员（鸨婆），女服务员（陪女）或其他种类的妓女频繁光顾的。每个陷入非正常交往关系（即“被玩弄”）的女性都会获得一种特殊的称号：
 
先是“二奶”（二老婆），一个女人（她或许已有家室或孩子）会与一个已婚或未婚的男人沉溺于婚外情。这就是所谓的“第三者”——拿爱情当儿戏的人。
 
位于顶点的角色，其地位可直接挑战妻子（老婆）的，就是情妇。情妇，即蛇蝎美人，不仅可以让男人体验偷腥的刺激和快感，也是最能显示男人身份的象征：包养情妇意味着你很有钱！
 
从技术上看，只有已婚男人才能拥有情妇，否则，若这个男人是单身，我们则会将他的女伴—无论有几个—单纯地看作他的“女朋友”。中国人包养情妇的传统与基督徒眼中的通奸别无二致——是一种原罪；但在中国这不过是一种风俗习惯罢了。
 
因此，当西方人第一次来中国的时候，他们常常会被中国人对婚姻、浪漫和性之间严格的界限搞得摸不着头脑。在中国，这三种场景通常对应三个不同身份的女人。[Read Full Text Here] 

(推荐人：韦以锡) (编辑：林昌峰) [Read it in English at Asia Times]

Pattberg: Add Daxue, Junzi, and Shengren to the Global Language

Dr. Pattberg explains why certain Chinese words are mandatory for global citizenship:

"China cannot make the West learn the Chinese language. But what it can do is to promote certain key terminologies back into world history. China, to this day, keeps the spirit of the Daxue. It is a living shengren culture." - T. Pattberg

In a recent feature article at Big Think, the global think tank, Dr. Pattberg argues that the future Global Language will have to include many more Chinese key terminologies. The reason why those terminologies are missing now lies in erroneous European translations of Chinese names in the past. Foreign concepts and categories were simply replaced with convenient European words in order to keep what the Germans call 'Deutungshoheit' - the sovereignty over the definition of thought. This kind of 'Language Imperialism' in the 21st Century, says Pattberg, is no longer adequate or called-for. On the contrary, he believes that the world is now ready for Chinese words and what better place to find some than Inside Peking University - China's mother lode of higher education! [Read at BIG THINK]

Thorsten Pattberg is a German writer, scholar, and cultural critic. He received his PhD from Peking University, spent time at Tokyo University and Harvard University, is a former research fellow at The Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University and is the author of ‘Shengren’ and ‘The East-West Dichotomy’. 

No Head of State Should Be Allowed In Office Without Having Spent Time In Asia And Learnt An Asian Language

“In fact, no executive, expatriate, leader of a party, director or a large organization, let alone head of state, should be allowed to assume such a post without having spent some time in Asia and learnt the local language.” The East-WestDichotomy (2013)

Thorsten Pattberg with Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia

Found memories of Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and now a Member of Parliament, who speaks fluent Chinese.

What exactly is “Socialism with Chinese characteristics?”

Everything the Party does is de-facto 'Socialism'

BEIJING - Outside observers who believe China to be a full-blown capitalist society are often confused by its government’s “socialist” rhetoric. That’s because China escapes most Western-defined categories, or at least it believes and desires to do so, hence the well-known appendix “with Chinese characteristics.” For simplification, we may as well conclude that everything the Communist Party does is de-facto socialism; and, in reverse, that the Party cannot do “not socialism.” [Read it at Big Think]

Islam should contribute to our global civilization

Islam should contribute to our global civilization and come to the table where the future rules of the games are formulated.
This rough version of a transcript from a shaky interview on Building-Bridges-TV (Istanbul) came to light recently at Diplomacy Post. The website looks great, lots of prominent analysts, philosophers, political analysts etc. The team around Burcu Cekmece, the Executive Producer at the Building Bridges Initiative, is very dedicated and persistent. Hope that I can join and write a column about recent events in China and how the relate to Turkey and the Middle East. China has officially 20 million Muslims, although unofficial numbers say more than 40 million. I also hope to be able to write something about the Turkish-German relations and the European Union. So much to do, so little time...

What's the Global Language?

Pattberg on Global Language and The End of Translation, Beijing 2013

What's the Global Language?

"The true 'global language' would be radically different from today's English (or any other major language); it would need to adopt the originality and the tens of thousands of words provided by humankind's other language traditions on top of it." -- T. Pattberg, The East-West Dichotomy (2013), Foreign Language Press, Beijing

I'm so excited to begin offering more public talks on 'Global language' and the 'End of translation' this winter 2013/2014, and I can't wait to expand the universe of Chinese (and other non-European) concepts and terminologies during my stay in Japan (and, hopefully, a brief excursion to the US).

Meanwhile, check out the new edition of The East-West Dichotomy (2013) available soon in book stores in China, university libraries, and in global online stores. I still have some free author copies, just send me an email at pattberg 'at' pku.edu.cn. Best!

Thorsten Pattberg with YANG Rui, famed Chinese journalist and CCTV International Presenter

YANG RUI and Thorsten Pattberg, Beijing Forum 2013

BEIJING FORUM 2013 – No other media figure has helped to accommodate if not to shape China’s rise more in the recent decade than YANG Rui, the CCTV International Presenter and host of ‘Dialogue’, an English-speaking political TV program. Mr. Yang has been called the Larry King of China, and his show Dialogue is watched by tens of millions. He recently drew criticism in particular for his anti-foreign, xenophobic remarks on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and in general for his aggressive personality and stance against foreign media that tends to report China in an unfavorable light. I met him at the Alliance of Civilizations meeting during the Beijing Forum 2013, where he shared his views on how China should be presented and respected by international media, and how especially CCTV tries to convey a China image from the point of view of the majority of the Chinese, which is naturally and often very different from Western-based media. Mr. Yang enjoys cult-status and has attracted a huge fellowship of Chinese students who regularly flock to his CCTV show(s) not only to student current international affairs and culture trends but also to study Political and Culture English. Among expats and foreign students in China, Yang Rui is known as probably the most international and recognizable Chinese media personality of the decade. [VISIT EAST-WEST DICHOTOMY]