I find blogs like these rather impressive: long discursions on a topic of interest, as opposed to the snappy marketing pieces that I see much more often. Clearly the author is a dedicated researcher in his field.<p>It's odd and ironic, but yes, the book has been repeatedly published in China and is widely available, even from a state-run bookstore. Perhaps this illustrates the point that, if you treat something like it ain't no thang, people don't notice and focus on it (the "forbidden fruit syndrome"). Or, alternatively, that most people don't care about political satire as long their lives are improving materially.<p>A quote by Orwell from the article, showing his ethnic/national sensitivity in 1947:<p><i>We all have these feelings in one form or another. If a Chinese wants to be called a Chinese and not a Chinaman, if a Scotsman objects to be called a Scotchman, or if a Negro demands his capital N, it is only the most ordinary politeness to do what is asked of one. The sad thing about this alphabet-book is that the writer obviously has no intention of insulting the “lower” races. He is merely not quite aware that they are human beings like ourselves. A “native” is a comic black man with very few clothes on; a “Chinaman” wears a pigtail and travels in a junk– which is about as true as saying that an Englishman wears a top hat and travels in a hansom cab. This unconsciously patronising attitude is learned in childhood and then, as here, passed onto a new generation of children.</i><p>(The article explains that 'Negro' was a term of respect at the time.)
Off-topic slightly, but it's worth mentioning Louisa Lim, former NPR / BBC's China correspondent had recently published the book The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited. It's worth a read.<p>It covered the current state of political life in China from 1989 ~ now. The whole concept of "1984 in China" is very much a topic talked about in the book. In the book it mentioned there was a case where regional government authorities forced the public to go back to work and school on Sat. and Sunday as a way to prevent crowd to gather for a weekend protest. It's rather fascinating.
I wish there was an auto summation tool or keywords of major topics for every link. I wonder how many good articles are closed immediately after they're opened simply because of the word count.<p>Back on topic, do they actually print copies of the translated version in China? It would be mighty ironic if that is the case.