China Law Blog Named Best Asian Blog Finalist

Thanks Anon (mom?), though I must say that it worries me a bit that you feel you must remain anonymous, and even be explicit about it. Are you worried that your friends and/or co-workers will shun you for liking CLB so much?

I am assuming anon is short for anonymous and not an alternative spelling for Kofi Annan.

Thanks Mark. I greatly appreciate it.

I do not strive for balance in terms of my opinions but I do strive to be fair in terms of my presentaion of the facts. I know I cannot always succeed in this as everyone has his or her own biases, but I also know that if I do not try, I most certainly will fail. I do not care if readers agree or disagree with me, but I very much want to be more than just a place where people go to see their own iron-clad ideas affirmed day in and day out. I know I have done my job when a reader who disagrees with me on one thing agrees with me on another. I definitely count you as one of those readers.

A Chinese reader of this blog told me the other day that he and his friends in China like this blog because it is not as "China-centric" as most of the other China blogs. I told him I did not undestand what he could mean by that since every single post has been on China and I cannot even remember a post that did not have "China" or "Chinese" in the title. He then said that so many of the China blogs are written as though China is totally different from every other place on earth and as though the Chinese are a different species. He ascribed this to their always comparing China to the US/England/Canada/Australia and making it seem as though if it wasn't like those places it was completely out of whack. He liked how we so often compare China's development to other countries and point out how in that context (IP protection, rule of law, democracy, etc.) China is actually quite normal.

When I started this blog, I would have NEVER have predicted how much comments and e-mails like this mean to me; I do not write this blog to get them, but they are what makes writing this blog so tremendously rewarding.

Dear China Law Blog (or should I call you Dan?) - thanks for your thoughtful response. By being fair in your presentation of China, or by at least striving to be fair, you are in fact achieving a balance. A fair majority of the exisiting English-language China-related blogs serve largely as forums for people to spew forth their ethnocentric and at times even racist and vindictive bile towards everything Chinese, and as you said in your above comment, many act as though China is somehow "out of whack" when it has in fact very much embraced global capitalism and the norms of its cultural logic.

Nobody wants (or expects) everybody to agree with him on every idea or thought about China, which, being a large and diverse country, can be baffling to comprehend and to make sense of at times. Even China "specialists" find it difficult to fit together images and realities, and so one might imagine how much more difficult it is for the great majority who make no pretence to knowledge about China and who, if interested, seek guidance in the formulation of their own images. Those who seek such guidance from the plethora of existing English-language China blogs should thus read them with some considerable caution, and should avoid being swept up by the harsh storms of China-bashing vindictiveness that are more often than not poured from the mouths of hate-filled bloggers whose insults to both China and to people like me who challenge their "iron-clad" views are cathartic, though the release of such aggression signifies, arguably, failures on their part to attain sublimated forms of enjoyment in a foreign country that does not always, depending on where exactly they reside, provide them with the same levels of immediate gratification that they may have been accustomed to in their home countries. Release then, I would argue, for some at least, often takes the form of an unarticulated ethnocentrism.

And this brings me to the other reason why I think this site is so impressive. The China Law Blog, together with Danwei, moderate reader comments in a fair and consistent manner. People can leave comments here on this site without the threat of being swamped with personal insults, which on many other sites, are even allowed to be expressed using vulgar and discourteous language.

The way comments are moderated here, together with the quality of this site's content, is what keeps the integrity of this site at a level way above nearly all other English-language China-related blogs.

Mark Anthony Jones

Mark --

Sure, call me Dan. I've been called worse.

I love getting credit for what I do, but I love even more getting credit for what I do not do. I have only twice not run a comment and I have never once changed the substance of any comments.

I once chose not to run a comment because it consisted entirely of a completely unsubstantiated rant against a China consultant who I personally know to be completely legitimate. Even had I not known this person, I would not have run it. The other time was a comment from a person whose website was nothing more than a crazy, incredibly virulent attack on a particular religion (not my own). I am not going to let this site be used to publicize unadultrated hatred.

I have been planning in my head for months now a one year anniversary post (due in Janaury) and in it I am going to wax poetic about our great readers. You have forced me to step up the timetable on that aspect of the post though because it is truly the quality of our readers you are complimenting here, not me. But, I am not going to engage in false modesty by acting as though the quality of our readers is completely independent of the content on our blog and I am proud that the discussions on here, though often heated, have never deteriorated to the point where personal insults are being tossed. I would definitely step in and stop that but I have not yet had to do so.

Well, I would agree to vote for your blog but it shall be a "win-win" situation according to Chinese standards so...what do you offer in exchange? lol

Monsieur Guerel --

I always say one should go into most negotiations with a carrot and if that does not work, then switch to a stick, as it is much easier to go from a carrot to a stick, than the other way around and it pays to have two weapons in one's arsenal.

So let's talk.

You have my vote(s). I don't know where I would be without this blog (well, I do know where I might be: not in front of my computer so long each day, but that's another story).

Pipi --

Thanks for the kudos and thanks for not haranguing.

Ben --

Thank you. I hereby appoint you as our New York State campaign manager.

Susumu --

Thanks for checking in from Japan and thanks for your compliments. Me, I am just a lawyer, but I think that allows me to see things "a mile (kilometer) wide and an inch (centimeter) deep" because I hear so much from our clients and others who are doing so many different things in China.

Will you be our campaign manager for Japan?

Wah! I haven't been nominated. Nevertheless, I'll be voting for you and Lonnie as often as possible. Congrats to you two... and damn the jerk who didn't nominate me! Not that I'd have a chance against you two heavyweights.

One question though... what the hell ever happened to the Asia Blog Awards?

Michael --

All of these things are weird. We were originally nominated by OneManBandwidth for the law category, and then moved over to Asian Blogs. I wish we had been put into the New Blog category (as we are less than a year old) because OneManBandWidth is kicking our butts.

I have no clue what is going on with the Asia Blog Awards, but I do know that the leading force behind those awards just had a beautiful baby girl and that seems to have messed up his priorities.

You have a great blog and everyone knows it so relax. BTW -- I just noticed that it was not in my blogroll (not sure how that happened as I thought I had added it months ago, but just went ahead and did so). Anything else I can do to get you to secure the Western vote?