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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2014)
OPINION Page 6 n THE ASIAN REPORTER December 1, 2014 Volume 24 Number 23 December 1, 2014 ISSN: 1094-9453 The Asian Reporter is published on the first and third Monday each month. Please send all correspondence to: The Asian Reporter 922 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, OR 97217 Phone: (503) 283-4440, Fax: (503) 283-4445 News Department e-mail: news@asianreporter.com Advertising Department e-mail: ads@asianreporter.com General e-mail: info@asianreporter.com Website: www.asianreporter.com Please send reader feedback, Asian-related press releases, and community interest ideas/stories to the addresses listed above. Please include a contact phone number. Advertising information available upon request. Publisher Jaime Lim Contributing Editors Ronault L.S. Catalani (Polo), Jeff Wenger Correspondents Ian Blazina, Josephine Bridges, Pamela Ellgen, Maileen Hamto, Edward J. Han, A.P. Kryza, Marie Lo, Simeon Mamaril, Julie Stegeman, Toni Tabora-Roberts, Allison Voigts Illustrator Jonathan Hill News Service Associated Press/Newsfinder Copyright 2014. Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication. Member Associated Press/Newsfinder Asian American Journalists Association Better Business Bureau Pacific Northwest Minority Publishers (PNMP) Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Oregon SUBSCRIPTION RATES (U.S. rates only) Individual subscription (sent bulk rate): q Full year: $24 q Two years: $40 Individual subscription (sent first class mail): q Half year: $24 q Full year: $40 q Two years: $72 Office subscription (5 copies to one address): q Half year: $40 q Full year: $75 q Two years: $145 Institutional subscription (25 copies to one address): q Half year: $100 q Full year: $180 q Two years: $280 NEW SUBSCRIBER / ADDRESS CORRECTION INFORMATION FORM: Subscriber’s name: Company name: Address: City, State, ZIP: Phone: Fax: E-mail: Mail with payment or Fax with credit card information to: The Asian Reporter, Attn: Subscription Dept., 922 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, OR 97217-2220 Phone: (503) 283-4440 * Fax: (503) 283-4445 q q q For VISA, Mastercard, or American Express payment only: Name (as it appears on the card): Type of card (circle): VISA Mastercard Card number: American Express Security code: Expiration date: n Wayne Chan The rush of rabble rousing Correspondence: The Asian Reporter welcomes reader response and participation. Please send all correspondence to: Mail: 922 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, OR 97217-2220 Phone: (503) 283-4440 ** Fax: (503) 283-4445 News Department e-mail: news@asianreporter.com General e-mail: info@asianreporter.com q Half year: $14 MY TURN Address of card: The last four issues of The Asian Reporter are available for pick up free at our office 24 hours a day at 922 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, Oregon. Back issues of The Asian Reporter may be ordered by mail at the following rates: First copy: $1.50 Additional copies ordered at the same time: $1.00 each Send orders to: Asian Reporter Back Issues, 922 N. Killingsworth St., Portland, OR 97217-2220 The Asian Reporter welcomes reader response and participation. If you have a comment on a story we have printed, or have an Asian-related personal or community focus idea, please contact us. Please include a contact name, address, and phone number on all correspondence. Thank you. ’ve never been known to be much of a rabble rouser. I don’t even know where I can find any rabble that needs rousing. You can say a lot of things about me, but “troublemaker” has never been one of them. I file my taxes on time and don’t take any ridiculous deductions. I drive a sensible but safe Honda hatchback. Even our dog is mild-mannered. But I must say, every time I’m in China, I definitely get a bit peeved at how they limit my access to the internet. It’s not even that I want to do anything remotely radical. I’m not trying to subvert the government. I don’t actually follow Chinese politics closely enough to have much of an opinion. No, what I’d like to do are the mundane things everyone does online — but can’t do in China. Since when does the Chinese government care whether I can find a jet-skiing bulldog on YouTube? What do they find objectionable about me making jokes on Facebook about a cheeseburger made out of two Krispy Kreme doughnuts as buns? Just what is so subversive about my tweet to sell individual sheets of toilet paper to tourists in China who didn’t come prepared? What government official is going to be offended if I do a google search to find out if former National Basketball Association player Yao Ming has ever knocked himself out walking through a low doorframe? Well folks — there you have it. Apparently, I’ve found my rabble. I guess it’s time for me to start rousing. For the first time, at the suggestion of some friends, I decided to sign up for a Virtual Private Network. It’s basically a service that allows me to bypass China’s censorship. I was actually told that I such a network isn’t even illegal in China and that many people do it. And while it may be perfectly legal in China (where I am currently writing this column), I really do feel like the cat who caught the mouse. All of a sudden, my newfound freedom from censorship allows me to do daring things online that I usually don’t have time for (or particularly any interest in) back home. I just commented on a post on my Facebook page my theory about the way people drive here in China: Instead of using defensive driving skills, they seem to use “the force.” Then I tweeted about how I spent $12 on two small bottles of water to help me wash down $2 worth of dumplings. And to top it off, I posted a picture on Instagram of my friend and I doing the “horsey riding move” from the “Gangnam Style” video while walking along the Great Wall. What can I say? I’m a rebel. Does the Chinese government approve of how I just uploaded a video on YouTube of my friend eating traditional Peking Duck wraps along with some corn chips tucked inside? I doubt it. Would they condone my watching a hilarious video of a dog and cat fighting over their pet bed instead of dutifully watching a particularly dramatic (and screechy) moment of a Peking Opera? Again, probably not. Let me make something perfectly clear. When I’m back home, I don’t spend a lot of time doing things like, say, watching old reruns of “Star Trek” on my laptop. But darn it, if you’re going to try and limit my access to it, all I can say is, “Beam me up, Scotty!” I figure, sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and take a stand. Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication. The Asian Reporter is published on the first & third Monday each month. 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