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柏杨在大陆的影响，主要在于《丑陋的中国人》，酱缸文化、一盘散沙的话，给多少志在反思的青年以鼓舞，后来他的做一个有尊严的中国人，影响就小了很多。柏杨的思路，直接上承的是近代以至五四文人思维，过得不好怨祖宗，经济、政治和科学都不会，专从文化上找毛病，而他讲道理的方式，皆是浅表的类比推理，听起来很过瘾，实际只是说些疥癣之疾，搔着了痒处却没有点到要害。

中国人循规蹈矩惯了，偶尔有一两个特立独行的人，便非常地引人注目。东方朔式的插科打诨，魏晋风度许多人说些不着边际的话，乃至王朔的装疯卖傻，都很流行过一阵，实际是专制下的一种佯狂，他们引起的笑声消解了专制的权威，在反讽中获得了心灵的变态舒展，应该说起到了很可宝贵的作用。但是，如果中国人一直津津于这样一种畸形的思想胜利，那实在是一种悲哀。

中国文化悠久，很容易形成文化力至上的错觉，从而忽略技术和专门学科的演进。

Reed Hundt also recalled that the initial plan — one he now thinks may have been naive — was that the U.S. would have total control of the Internet for “the first ten years of its existence,” so that the United States could “establish a paradigm that would win the war of ideas.” Europe, he hoped, would then follow the U.S. lead in Internet-related regulation.

Mr. Hundt, who now works for consultancy McKinsey and frequently contributes to the popular blog Talking Points Memo, is an ardent supporter of Barack Obama and has been advising the Senator and newly- annointed Democratic nominee,  on technology and telecommunications policy. He will be debating Bush 43’s FCC chair, Michael Powell, on June 10 — one of the early proxy battles between Obama and McCain, where the technology policies advocated by the two candidates will be on display.

一个很古典的东西，要把它普遍化，没有很高的学术水平的话，就会发生各种各样的误解，跟《论语》不相干，只不过是借着《论语》说自己想说的话。

我认为现在的儒学现状有一种抵抗西方价值的倾向，希望能在《论语》中找到许多东西，让我们可以排斥西方的某些价值，我们有自己的价值，可以不跟着西方走。

我想“至圣先师”一切都以孔子为模范在今天不大能够成立，在多元化的今天，说中国的思想，不能光说《论语》，也不能光说儒家，老子何尝不重要？庄子何尝不重要？韩非子何尝不重要？我想今天来看孔子，应该把他看成最早提出精神价值的一个人(因为从现在的材料来看《老子》成书在《论语》之后)，一个很平平实实的人，一个实践了自己道德和精神价值的人。而不要把他装扮成一个深不可测的人。如果孔子深不可测，与一般人也就没有什么相干，“道”也会遥不可及；也不要把孔子装扮成十全十美的圣人，今天也不能劝人做“圣人”，而是要劝人做“君子”，也就是孟子讲的“富贵不能淫，威武不能屈，贫贱不能移”。这就是把价值放到自己身上了，而不是嘴上讲讲或者写写文章。

An exception to this is Germany, which gave the most negative of all the European assessments. China, on the other hand, was quite positive towards Germany. It probably isn’t anymore.

Danwei posted on Who is winning the Olympic PR War? Jeremy’s conclusion: In the West, Free Tibet organizers. In China, the Chinese government.

Chinese people are not “brainwashed” by the government but carefully considering Western sources and see them as being just biased as their own sources.

For what it's worth, which may not be much, I think Mr Hu is unwise to stress the independence/unification issue. Generally speaking in the last few decades, once political debates have been framed in sovereignty terms, it's been a one-way ticket towards independence or autonomy, unless a referendum or election has confirmed the desire by the affected people to remain part of the motherland. This has descended into nasty conflicts, as we know, and while with regards to such places as Kosovo the evil hand of the American imperialist has been fashionably detected that line does not play well in East Timor or Estonia.

Central bank purchases of traditional reserve assets still dwarf sovereign wealth fund purchases of riskier assets -- as well as central bank purchases of equities. But over time, it is reasonable to expect that many over-reserved sovereigns will diversify their portfolios. The recent decision to increase the share of the CIC's initial $205-210 billion in capital that it can invest abroad and SAFE's increased willingness to purchase equities as well as bonds are examples.

A far more challenging issue is how the huge increase in financial assets managed by potentially non-economic agents will affect the efficiency of the global capital market and the allocation of risk and resources. ….

And then there is China. China enormous foreign asset growth in the first quarter implies that it might be able to add more to its reserves and sovereign fund in 2008 than all the oil-exporters combined even if oil stays at its current levels.

And if you think that China's inflation stems from too much money rather than too few pigs* (or too little rice), that is a problem. The only solution, as Michael Pettis emphasizes, is a big one-off revaluation that changes expectations.

上世纪80年代风行一时的《逃避自由》作者弗洛姆说过一番话：“民族主义是我们这个时代的乱伦形式，偶像崇拜和精神病症。‘爱国主义’正是它的崇拜对象。显然，我这里所讲的‘爱国主义’，是一种把自己民族凌驾于人性、真理和正义原则之上的态度……对自己民族国家的爱，如果不包括对人类的爱，就不是爱而是偶像崇拜。”

互联网这个新事物的出现能否推进中国融入主流文明的进程，取决于我们在这个平台上能不能学会理性、负责任地表达自己的看法，学会对不同的、乃至完全对立的观点的容忍

It’s obvious that people with a bone to pick with China’s leadership think the impending Olympics in Beijing are creating political space to air their demands. What’s next? Well, we haven’t heard much in recent months from Falun Gong, the Buddhist-inspired spiritual sect and the object of an ongoing brutal campaign of suppression by the Chinese state. No doubt they are going to pile on soon as well. Who knows, maybe smack in the middle of the Olympics opening ceremony.

Those who think inflation is caused by too little pork rather than too much money are wrong.”

As a result, China and the Gulf are importing a very expansionary US monetary policy at a time when their economies are growing rapidly and inflation rates are picking up.

The US slowdown and associated series of rate cuts have just made the cost of dollar pegs a lot more visible now

the best way to know you have a mind is to change it

if you worry about what others think of you, you will be living their version of your life and not yours.

Copyright law has abandoned its reason for being: to encourage learning and the creation of new works

This lack of freedom stunts any real debate on the future of China. Thinking is still circumscribed. There are areas that are still taboo or where intellectuals can only hint at what they mean. In three vital spheres, this is deeply damaging to China’s national interest. The first is foreign policy. China has evolved in less than a generation into a world power, one now placed alongside America in a newly minted category of G2. But the country is uncertain how to exercise this power. And as long as the party restricts the debate to a known ideological framework, it cannot mobilise China’s vast intellectual capabilities to address this. The second area, intellectual property, is equally damaged. As long as there is no real freedom to question the foundations of society, China will not produce innovators. It will be able to copy and develop, but not to outstrip competitors and set the framework for the world. And the third area is the legitimate assertion of religious and regional identities alongside Chinese citizenship.