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yin/yang
Talker
Joined: Feb 21, 2004
Posts: 81
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 Posted:
June 02, 2004 - 08:44 AM |
 
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| Post subject: Anders Jansson and his China photos |
Anders Jansson is a Swede. He put his 100 plus photos taken in China on display in a website. Some of his photos were considered to have distorted China's image and he was criticized by some Chinese. On March 1st, a signed article titled "Photos that have caused public indignation" appeared in "Chinese Youth" newspaper. Following that article, the criticism turned to a thunderstorm of attack, swearing and threat. More than 1000 emails bombarded him, so he had "dog bloods covering all his head" (Chinese Youth). On March 4th, three days after the article, Anders Jansson announced his "surrender". He decided to let those Chinese who are good at swearing win the battle by closing his website. In the meantime, he publicized some emails he received.
The following is an interview he had with a magazine "United Weekly". I didn't see it in the magazine but from a website. Some of our members here might be interested in reading it and I am sure many members can identify with him or with the voices expressed by those emails. It's not my intention to stir up a fight here. I just hope we all can learn something from it. I also think it's a way to promote the mutual understandings between the foreigners and the Chinese.
I bet the interview was conducted in English. So when I try to translate it back to English from Chinese, it won't be the same. The same would apply to some emails he received. If Anders happens to be here, I hope you can publish your original interview and the emails.
Q: Could you make a simple introduction about yourself to our readers?
A: Sure. As you might have already known, I am a Swede living in Stockholm. I am 33 years old this year. I am not a professional photographer. I have a degree in Engineering Physics and I once worked in China for one year as an Electric Engineer. Right now I am starting to set up my own company that would be in the field of IT consulting business.
Q: Your "China Photos" caused some stir recently and later you shut down the site. Could you explain why you shut down the website?
A: Since the debut of the website, I have received more than 1000 bellicose and insulting letters, strongly demanding and even threatening me to close the website. Most of them came in after March 1st and they filled my email box. It never occurred to me that the China in my eyes would cause such an outrage. I decided to let them win. It's not a big deal for me. I don't mind losing to those swearing people. Besides that, it's not my intention to have enemy for setting up a website. It's not fun to receive hundreds of threatening letters every week that will disturb my tranquil life. Till this very day, I still have hundreds of letters unread in my mailbox. This is also the reason that I could not respond to you earlier (apparently, the interview was conducted through internet).
Q: Could you tell us your motives to set up "China Photos" website?
A: Initially, I just want to share with my friends my experience and joy I had when I was in China. When I found many of them like those pictures very much, I decided to publish them on Yahoo, so that more people can see them. My motive is really simple: to bring pleasure to others and to make more friends.
Q: Some people believe that you are deliberately trying to distort and damage the images of China and Chinese people. How do you think about that?
A: first, let me make clear that before and after my stay in China, my general impression of China is a good and positive one. My wife whom I love dearly is a Chinese. My future children will be half Chinese and I hope they will be able to speak Chinese, just as their mother does. So we can say, my family is half Chinese. Many of my best friends are Chinese too. I am sure they love me just in the same way I love them. I have no reason to deliberately distort the image of China and the Chinese people, let alone to hurt my wife's compatriots. Truly China is different from all other countries I have been to. It's this uniqueness that made my China trip full of fun. In some Chinese 's opinion, the images of Guilin, Guangzhou and Chengde etc. are quite positive but I failed to give a "correct image" of Beijing. I don't agree with that. There was no such a thing as "the correct image of Beijing". I only aim my lens at those things I was fascinated with or shocked at. At Guilin, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the mountains and rivers (he could mean he was touched or he was excited too). While in Beijing, what shocked me were the pollution and the garbage. I understand there are many skyscrapers and good looking wealthy people in Beijing, but those are the landscape of all other big cosmopolitans. I was not attracted by (or interested in) that.
Q: Then how do you understand those criticisms?
A: Frankly speaking, it's hard to understand. It never occurred to me that my photos were taken so seriously and that Chinese people care so much about outsiders seeing things that need to be improved. In my opinion, those things get improved only when they get people's attention. That's what the newspapers and media do in Sweden. So is the case in many other countries. As a matter of a fact, it is part of the responsibility of the newspaper and media. The pollution and environment issues are being discussed in China too. I am afraid the issues here are not really my photos but the fact I am not a Chinese and it shouldn't be me to expose those not so good things. Just as it's okay for someone to say that “ I am overweight and I should start to lose weight”. But it will cause resentment when others point that out. If I were a Chinese, not just having a Chinese in the family, they probably won't be nearly as angry.
Q: Many got to know your website through an article in "Chinese Youth" newspaper. Then it spread out through many Chinese websites which made more Chinese people aware of your photos. In that article, the author specially mentioned three photos from your photo album. One is the photo in which several Swedish were making weird gestures (it didn't use the word "obscene" but I have a feeling that might be the case) on the Great Wall, and the other two are in a group which show two chickens combing a pile of trash for food. Could you explain those three photos to us?
A: I can understand why Chinese people are being angry at the Great Wall picture. I admit that I made a mistake to include that picture in my online album. In fact, there are a few pictures in "China Photos" not taken by me. This photo is one of them. I was not even at the scene. The mistake I made was that I should not include that picture in the Great Wall folder. But if anything, that picture would damage the image of the Swedes, not that of China or Chinese people. As for the pictures of garbage and chickens, that’s one scene I saw in Beijing. Until this moment, I still think the chickens are really extraordinary. They can survive by grubbing the pile of garbage.
Q: Will this incident change your perception about China and Chinese people?
A: No, it will not. It’s true that I received many hostile and abusive letters. But not all Chinese are that overly sensitive. I also got letters from Chinese friends from all over the world with strong encouragement and show of the support. I already made public of some of these letters. I strongly believe it’s those people who really hope China to progress and who will make it to happen. Some people are unhappy that I yield to the pressure by closing the web site and they suggested I should reopen it. When I am less busy, I will seriously consider the suggestion. But I will not judge China or Chinese people based on those swearing and insulting letters. We have this kind of people in every country, including my own country, Sweden. No matter what you do, there are always people who are not happy with it. After all this scenario, I still believe that China is a beautiful country with its great people, even though the pollution and poverty still exist. It’s well known that China has a very high growth rate and I believe many scenes on my photos are becoming history.
Q: Finally, would you like to say a few words for “United Weekly” readers?
A: I hope all the people can become friends, no matter where they were born, which race they belong to. As I said earlier, my wife is a Chinese and some of my best friends are Chinese. I also have friends from Chile and Iran. I believe we human beings are fundamentally same, no matter what cultural background we might have. We can coexist peacefully and become good friends with each other. This is my outlook of the world and the world I will strive for.
Some emails Jansson received (some words were filtered out. I will do the same. But due to the difference in two languages, you probably have to use some imaginations for those omitted words):
# Hi, you British white pig (Jansson is a swede). What a picture of China you have painted! This just shows how dirty, disgusting, stinky, fat and mentally messed up your British white become. As a psychiatrist, I can see you have some problem with your self-esteem. You always want to insult others. I strongly believe that you need to be xxxxxx to feel satisfied but still think you are a sex offender. Go and xxxxxx yourself, go and eat bull ****, go look for your mom to xxxxxx, go and look for white pigs to xxxxxx and go and let black homosexuals to xxxxxx. Use xxxxxx to rinse your month; use xxxxxx to bath yourself. Xxxxxx you 10000000000000000000000000000 times!!!!!!!!!!!! (it took me a while to count how many zeros and exclamation marks (28 zeros and 12 exclamation marks). (Kao Chung Hsiu, UK)
# I don’t like you. I am from Japan. I like China. I want to kill you. (Li lyyang, Australia)
# You yomama, you better to take your dirty pictures away from the website (Yan Shi, USA)
#, Do you know what’s your problem? You only stayed in a dirty place in Beijing. XXXX your mom! You are xxxxxx raised! What would you do if I set up a website to put your goddamn Swenden bad pictures there! Xxxxxx you! You are xxxxxxx that deserves death! You’d better not to put my name on your website (Zong Qi, USA)
# I live in USA, the most developed country in the world. So what? If I want, I can take pictures that would be much darker than yours about China. Though your face doesn’t look ugly, once you expose your xxxxxxx, it doesn’t seem too clean, it’s even dirty. How can your dirty pictures reflect the life in Beijing? You should be condemned! (Fei Zou, USA)
# You are a pig, a foreign devil looking at China using a different eye. I hope Christian (Jansoon’s wife) will flee from you with all your money, belongings and property. (FMA88, country unknown)
# I have to admit that your pictures are interesting. But as a Chinese, I don’t like your website. However, you reminded us of the responsibility of protecting the environment. (anonymous, China)
# I hope you don’t take those cursing and dirty words too seriously. It’s totally uninvited and unfair. Please allow me to use your site to say a few words to those who wrote those abusive letters. I am a Chinese and we all hope China will be prosperous and civilized. But it won’t help anything just refusing to face the reality and cursing others. We have been just doing that for already several decades. Let’s be brave. Do some tangible thing for our beliefs and our goals. That’s the best way to show that you really love your own culture and your country. (Wnyu, country unknown)
# Please don’t care (about those letters). Your photos are good ones. I feel embarrassed by my fellow people’s rudeness. Those irrational and maddening words just show they have some mental problems. In this cyber world, the majority is keeping the silence. Those bigoted minds are using their bigoted way to express themselves. Don’t pay too much attention to them. (XJ, country unknown)
# After reading those letters, while I feel sorry for you, I feel more so for my fellow country people. Can’t a real strong person/city/country stand a real picture? (anonymous, China)
# Your photos are reflecting the truth and they are interesting. Please don’t mind those swearing. That’s the nationalism education many Chinese have been receiving. Please be confident that, all these things, include the extreme thinking, will be changed along with the landscape they feel embarrassed to see. Welcome to come back to visit China again. (anonymous, China)
# I have never been to China. But those letters are unbearable to eyes. Photos are just photos. If you don’t like them, then don’t go and see them. If you are embarrassed by what the pictures show, then go and change the things. It’s a real problem that people are having such a narrow-mind and rigid thinking.
(Frankie McCallister, country unknown)
# I’m from Japan. It’s really shocking to read those extremely nationalistic, bellicose and abusive letters from Chinese. The irony here is, they complained that your photos damaged China’s image. But the image projected by those people is far worse. If there are a lot people like these, I will be surprised if there will be no war in the future. (James M, Japan)
# swearing and cursing won’t change the landscape shown on those photos. If I publish the photos I took from China on the internet, I am sure I will get the same or even more fierce attack. Are these people going to do something to help change the poverty and environment? No. They would rather stay in America. They don’t care what kind of life the ordinary Chinese people are living. All they care is China’s “image”. (anonymous, USA) |
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Monk
Raver
Joined: May 03, 2004
Posts: 440
Status: Offline
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June 02, 2004 - 10:48 AM |
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Good article. Mr. Jansson seems like an intellignet and level-headed man.
As he said (and others here have said), this kind of nasty person exists in every country... though, as much credit as I give to China for all its accomplishments, I have to admit that I see more of it here than other places.
There are a lot of blindly nationalistic types in America too -- there was a great South Park episode about this called "A Little Bit Country".
I found this to be the most valuable part:
"The irony here is, they complained that your photos damaged China’s image. But the image projected by those people is far worse."
This sentiment could be applied to many of the posts on ShanghaiExpat (and I don't mean just Chinese). |
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yu888
Board Deity
Joined: Jan 25, 2003
Posts: 18042
Location: ZhongShanParkArea SH
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June 03, 2004 - 09:48 AM |
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Edgewood
FooSlinger
Joined: Jan 28, 2004
Posts: 3906
Location: Colonial Shanghai
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June 09, 2004 - 09:43 PM |
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I was taking photo's in the west of China of a polluted river - black with pollution. Some locals tried to stop me taking the pictures and then tried to take my camera away. They told me I shouldn't take photo's of bad things because "China has no bad rivers". |
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Conlige suspectos semper habitos |
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bobby76_uk
Squeeker
Joined: July 10, 2004
Posts: 12
Status: Offline
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July 10, 2004 - 08:15 PM |
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dbjiang
Seeker
Joined: July 16, 2004
Posts: 59
Status: Offline
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July 20, 2004 - 03:52 PM |
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It seems to be a very old story. I saw these photos years ago. Not every Chinese have same thoughts as "those people". Calm down please. |
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Magnolia
Board Biatch
Joined: June 01, 2004
Posts: 31083
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July 20, 2004 - 04:32 PM |
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I do not think anyone was overly excited here. Nor was it a rant about all Chinese acting in a particular way. |
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jenming
FooJay
Joined: Dec 20, 2002
Posts: 1675
Location: Right where you wanna be
Status: Offline
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July 20, 2004 - 07:56 PM |
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| dbjiang wrote: |
| It seems to be a very old story. I saw these photos years ago. Not every Chinese have same thoughts as "those people". Calm down please. |
did you read the whole thing? a lot of chinese people wrote in with support for Jansson. Nobody was trying to say anything disparaging about chinese people. It seems like you're the only one who's worked up... |
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dbjiang
Seeker
Joined: July 16, 2004
Posts: 59
Status: Offline
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July 20, 2004 - 08:06 PM |
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Ok, I won't say anything. :p |
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littlefox
Fire-eater
Joined: Nov 23, 2003
Posts: 2773
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July 23, 2004 - 01:47 PM |
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so his photos can never be accessed online now? what a pity, I'm really interested . |
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Ah, the ubiquitous idiots... |
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itv1980
Low Seater
Joined: Mar 05, 2004
Posts: 3355
Location: Revalidation centre
Status: Offline
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July 27, 2004 - 05:14 PM |
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I placed some photo's about the "less" good image on my yahoowebsite too and got same hatemail.
Mostly replied saying how ignorant they were and if they want to change they should not rant but do something.
Talk is nothing, actions is all and to start a change you begin by yourself. And behaving in a state of denial won't take the bad things away. |
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