Yuan Tengfei on freedom of speech

i hope he was lecturing to high school kids and not college students.

it'd be a shame were that level of discourse to pass for post-secondary instruction.

I'm curious - who are the 5 rightists?

Thank you very much for sharing this inspiring piece!

LoL. That was excellent. Quite a few zings in there too, and part of me is just a bit curious why he wasn't roundly criticized by someone (or maybe he was).

@ b. You never know...

The translation could've been better...

@b,

Agree. Actually the level of discourse is at most appropriate for junior high. Political critiques at this level are just good enough for taxi drivers.

On the other hand, it's easy for kids in Beijing to go to college, easier than kids in other provinces anyway. So they don't really have to study real stuff. They can just enjoy claptrap and 相声。

Hoohoo, he's really funny :)

To on the other hand

--"it's easy for kids in Beijing to go to college, easier than kids in other provinces anyway. So they don't really have to study real stuff"?

That it is harder for kids in other provinces to go to college doesnt mean it is easy for Beijing kids, so easy "they don't really have to study real stuff".
You have logic problem, man. Look around to see the million little book-worms in Beijing, you can get smarter.

"Agree. Actually the level of discourse is at most appropriate for junior high. Political critiques at this level are just good enough for taxi drivers."---on the other hand, b., and whomever else

You are all elitists. What makes you so good? You probably pick your nose like everyone else and I could also conclude that you aren't so tough because you probably eat ice cream like everyone else too.
While it may be true that most taxi drivers aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer I doubt you would want to be categorized as anything.

"The translation could've been better..."---Force8

Well at least this Chris fellow took the time to offer something for discussion. Your criticism does nothing to contribute and if you don't like his translation then do your own. I bet you are one of those folks that complains about Da Shan just because he beat you to the punch. Stop being bitter and encourage folks like Chris who are giving you something to think about.

The subtitle could be better

@b,

Yes he is a high school history teacher. His job is to get a bunch of kids who only cares about new Wii games interested in history, which he did briliantly and with taste.

I'm really jealous of his students. I wish I had a teacher like him in high school. In high school I knew so many things in textbooks were horseshit and he is the only teacher who actually said it was. I think he is the only history teacher in this country who is not a liar.

He sounds like how George Carlin would have talked to high school kids--just be funny and tell the truth.

There are many places where the translations could have been more accurate. I wrote down the first two:

0:56 So what kind of proposition do we need? we call these "acceptable suggestions".

建设性意见 is normally translated into "constructive suggestion". Plus you can't say "We accept acceptable suggestions".

1:01 In other words, the tyrant blocks the door (and not the room): small things are easier to accept than larger ones.

小骂大帮忙 doesn't mean "small things are easier to accept than larger ones" at all. It means when you criticize someone, it's smart to make him believe that you mean to HELP him rather than just make him look bad. Literally it translated into: the minor goal is to critisize; the major goal is to help.

Thanks MiaInChina, I appreciate you pointing out some of the errors in the video. Doing these subtitles have been a crash course in translation ettiquette for me. --- Chris

Thanks for posting this. It was interesting to see the USA from China's perspective on this issue.

this video does not work on youtube anymore. can somebody please upload a new one?

He's to Mao and communism, what Christopher Hitchens is to religion. Quite engaging, largely correct and will stimulate discussion.

he is the one who tell the truth