The Audacity of [Censored]

Since I'm on vacation right now and I was out of town for a couple days, I've sort of lost track of which day of the week it is. I totally forgot that the inauguration had taken place until I got in a taxi and the driver (after going through the typically litany of conversation start-up questions) asked me about "my America's" new president (in Chinese they always use "our" and "yours" when talking about the countries we come from--"our China, your America"). After getting back home, I consulted foreignpolicy.com (and a calender) and got reconnected to the outside world.

[As a side note, conversations in Chinese taxis are some of the most interesting Chinese practice I get and one of the best ways to get a feel for what the "typical" Chinese reaction is to just about any subject. And, in general, the taxis drivers are usually overly complimentary about my faltering, limited Chinese skills which is always a confidence booster since I run out vocabulary very quickly when the topic approaches politics or the economy.]

Not all that surprisingly, Obama's speech was censored when it was broadcast on CCTV and when it was later translated into Chinese. Here's the article about it from Foreign Policy. Oh and I stole borrowed their title for my blog post since I thought it was catchy and funny.

China Censors Obama's Inaugural Address

Watch the youtube clip. Do normal Chinese viewers not wonder what's up when they cut out like that and everyone looks flustered and the news anchor asks a completely unrelated question?

And, the Chinese officials have to see the irony in censoring out a line that says, "those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history." . . . or maybe they don't. I guess they'd rather run the risk of being on the wrong side of history (in the future) for being on the right side of power (in the present).