Imagine a diary on dailykos that is read by over a million people, has over 10,000 comments, and is reposted on thousands of other blogs. That diary would certainly sit atop of the recommended list for a long time, and possibly even become the topic of Sunday morning talk shows.
Now imagine posting a diary like that every single week for the past three years. I'm dreaming, right? No. There is such a guy in the world. Unfortunately he is not a member of dailykos. His name is Han Han, a Chinese blogger. With the largest following of any bloggers in China (and possibly in the whole world), Han Han has become an icon of the Chinese dissident movement.
Make sure to read the best quote at the end: "I am not flirting nor I am sex craved. I am just exploring."
Update: Here is the NYT profile of Han Han.
Han Han started out as a race car superstar (think Dale Earnhardt Jr.) but quickly grew into an icon of Chinese dissident movement by means of his diaries on his blog. The blog started a mere three and a half years ago. Although the first diary focused on his car races, his diaries quickly got into politics and criticisms of the government, and started to draw hundreds of thousands page views every day. His first big hit diary (with 1.5 million views and over 22,000 comments) was right after the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, when he discussed donations to earthquake victims. But three weeks later his diary on earthquake related politics (more on this diary below) received 1.1 million views and nearly 40,000 comments (no, I didn't mistype a zero)!
Here is a glimpse of the popularity of Han Han's most recent diaries:
散文一篇(2010-04-07 04:24)
阅读(711349) ┆ 评论(20057) ┆ 转载(2347)┆ 收藏(813)
陌生人的来信(2010-04-05 03:00)
阅读(723750) ┆ 评论(16437) ┆ 转载(2499)┆ 收藏(806)
2010年3月15日(2010-03-15 12:36)
阅读(851324) ┆ 评论(16977) ┆ 转载(744)┆ 收藏(202)
我去哪里找,像你那么好(2010-03-14 01:17)
阅读(1016576) ┆ 评论(17314) ┆ 转载(1537)┆ 收藏(943)
悲伤的坐在你身旁(2010-03-08 20:04)
阅读(1123935) ┆ 评论(7094) ┆ 转载(460)┆ 收藏(229)
韩峰是个好干部(2010-03-04 10:58)
阅读(1248325) ┆ 评论(11651) ┆ 转载(1418)┆ 收藏(652)
前扑后继(2010-02-25 03:57)
阅读(1014908) ┆ 评论(7583) ┆ 转载(686)┆ 收藏(268)
The format in the list above is
Title of the diary (date and time)
Views (number) | comments (number) | reposts (number) | bookmarks (number)
I'd say that Han Han is easily the most popular web blogger in China, and possibly in the whole world.
What does Han Han talk about in his diaries? Let's start with his diary on earthquake related politics I just mentioned above. This diary was a reaction to actress Sharon Stone's following comment after the Sichuan earthquake of 2008:
Well you know it was very interesting because at first, you know, I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And so I have been very concerned about how to think and what to do about that because I don’t like that. And I had been this, you know, concerned about, oh how should we deal with the Olympics because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine. And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that Karma? When you're not nice then the bad things happen to you?
This comment caused a firestorm of protests from a lot of Chinese. One reflection of how bad the reactions were is that one of the theater chains in China (and headquartered in Hong Kong) announced that they would not show any Sharon Stone's movies any more. With nearly universal condemnation of Sharon Stone, Han Han bravely stood up and defended her:
对于莎朗斯通,如果她说了
069;半部分,那只能证明她有毛
病,的确该骂,但事实是,
905;的话还有后半部分,在国内
的媒体上,我几乎没有看到$
807;。当然,这也是大家所希望
的,一方面,娱乐版都是明
143;义演的新闻,出来这么一条
,大家就可以享受借着崇高
340;名义置人于死地的快感。有
些人说,就冲着莎朗斯通是$
798;赖喇嘛的朋友,怎么说都应
该封杀她。但是李连杰也是$
798;赖喇嘛的朋友。达赖喇嘛有
很多朋友,里面有些人也是
105;们的朋友,最理想也是对国
家最好的结果是,达赖喇嘛
063;成为我们的朋友,西藏安定
。
Translation:
As for Sharon Stone, if she only said the first half of her comment, then it proves that she is sick and should be condemned. But the fact is, her comment has a second part, which I almost never see any report of on any media within China. Of course, this is what most people wanted. After all, entertainment news at this moment is all occupied by charity performances. Now with this news, everyone can enjoy the character assassination in the name of nobility. Some would say, but Sharon Stone is a friend of the Dalai Lama so she deserves to be boycotted. On that I would say but Jet Li is also a friend of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has a lot of friends, some of whom are also our friends. The most ideal and best result for our country is, that the Dalai Lama also becomes our friend, then there will be peace in Tibet.
The nearly 40,000 comments overwhelmingly showed support.
During a discussion of government corruption in a diary titled "I'm only exploring", he sidetracked to a different topic:
这样一个美好的地方,原本
823;家抽烟都比较少,国家设立
了一个机构,这个机构里有
010;官员,让这个原本香烟消费
很少的地方人开始大量的抽
895;,最后人均消费了六条以上
,超过了全国平均量,居然$
825;就是成了好领导的标准。让
老百姓多抽烟居然成为了政
220;部门的政绩。作为一个像样
的国家,你不禁烟算了,你
590;么能将专门设立一个官方机
构旨在让老百姓多抽烟呢,
320;怎么能用老百姓的健康来换
取你这点微不足道的GDP呢。不&
#36807;我转念一想,也正常,从Ĉ
69;都是这么干的。
Translation:
Such a beautiful place, it started out with very few smokers. The state set up an agency. The agency had an official. The official worked to get the population which originally rarely smoked to start to smoke heavily. At the end the per capita consumption rose to more than six cartons, above the national average. This is the benchmark for a good official. The achievement of a government agency is to let people smoke more. As a decent nation, even if you do not ban tobacco, how can you set up a government agency with the sole purpose of letting people smoke more? How can you sacrifice people's health in order to achieve your pitiful GDP? But then I realize, this is normal. We have been doing this kind of things all the time.
Most of the comments are like this:
小公主2010-04-11 15:43:20
不得不说,中国政府真的很&
153;,但是有些话我们身为中国
公民无法大胆说出口。。。
863;谢你,说出了百姓们的心声
Translation:
I have to say, the Chinese government is really midgetty, but some things we as Chinese citizens are not brave enough to say out loud... Thank you for saying what we all want to say.
But some comments went further:
爱非2010-04-11 20:55:19
我们认为下面这些真理是ߎ
1;言而喻的:人人生而平等,
36896;物者赋予他们若干不可剥࣬
2;的权利,其中包括生命权、
33258;由权和追求幸福的权利。ߒ
6;了保障这些权利,人类才在
20182;们之间建立政府,而政府ߔ
3;正当权力,是经被治理者的
21516;意而产生的。当任何形式
0;政府对这些目标具破坏作用
26102;,人民便有权力改变或废༊
0;它,以建立一个新的政府;
20854;赖以奠基的原则,其组织
5;力的方式,务使人民认为唯
26377;这样才最可能获得他们的ध
3;全和幸福。为了慎重起见,
25104;立多年的政府,是不应当ஸ
1;于轻微和短暂的原因而予以
21464;更的。过去的一切经验也
7;说明,任何苦难,只要是尚
33021;忍受,人类都宁愿容忍,
0;无意为了本身的权益便废除
20182;们久已习惯了的政府。但
9;,当追逐同一目标的一连串
28389;用职权和强取豪夺发生,
7;明政府企图把人民置于专制
32479;治之下时,那么人民就有
5;利,也有义务推翻这个政府
65292;并为他们未来的安全建立ਫ
2;的保障...........
Translation:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security......
As if this was not clear enough, the poster reposted the last sentence before the dots one more time in the next comment.
Even when talking about politics, Han Han's diaries are not dead serious. They are full of humor. In the same diary "I'm only exploring" Han Han had this to say about censorship:
最后,我看到一个新闻说,
197;后手机上转发黄段子或者黄
色信息将停止该手机短信功!
021;,必须到公安局写下保证书
才能开通短信功能。政府就
159;这样,他永远给你一个动词
和名词,然后永远不解释这
010;名词,比如说,不能反革命
,但从来不告诉你什么是反&
761;命,不能犯流氓罪,但从来
不告诉你什么是流氓罪,这
425;是不能发黄段子,但是从来
不告诉你什么是黄段子。我
412;将心照政府,奈何政府没标
准,导致了有些朋友莫名其
937;就触到了雷区,甚至有些五
毛党都经常陷于拍个马屁结
524;审核没通过的尴尬。我的提
议是,对于雷区,就应该写
165;楚,这一片是雷区,你进去
了就后果自负,你不光没有
126;确标明,反而时不时人行道
上埋个雷,炸了算谁的呢?%
492;于快到新年,为了避免广大
网友在转发各种短信的时候
981;幸被停机,导致年初一进派
出所写保证书的悲剧发生,
105;决定牺牲自己,在这几天里
,源源不断的转发各种黄段
376;,直到我的手机被停机了,
我再上来转告大家,到底什
040;叫做黄段子或者黄色信息。
所以,最近接收到我的黄色
573;子或者色情短信的朋友们,
请不要误会,我不是在发春
063;不是要调情,我只是在探索
。
Translation:
Lastly, I read in the news that if you are found to send porn or porn messages on your cell phone, your cell phone's messaging feature will be disabled until you go to the Public Safety Bureau to write a letter guaranteeing that you won't do it again. Our government is always like this, it gives you a verb and a noun, but never explains to you what this noun means. For example, you cannot be a counter-revolutionary, but it never tells you what is counter-revolutionary. You cannot be a hooligan, but it never tells you what is a hooligan. This time you cannot send porn, but it never tells you what is porn. I dearly want to obey our government, but too bad the government doesn't have a standard. Consequently some friends hit a landmine without knowing why. Sometimes even a 50 cent party would face the embarrassment of trying to kiss the government's ass but instead getting banned. My suggestion is, if there is a minefield, then it should be clearly declared, so that anyone who get in would be responsible for themselves. But you not only do not clearly mark the mines, but also frequently mine the roads for people. Now whose responsibility is it when someone gets hurt? Since the New Year is coming, to prevent the tragedy of some of my net friends get caught in their cell phone messages and have to go to the Public Safety Bureau to write a guarantee, I will sacrifice myself. During the next few days, I will send out porn messages nonstop, until my cell phone is disabled. Then I will come here and tell everyone, what on earth is porn or porn messages. Therefore, to my friends who will be receiving porn from me, please do not misinterpret. I am not flirting nor I am sex craved. I am just exploring.