The Law of Karma

The past Saturday was my B-day. After a wonderful dinner with some friends at the Twin Dragons on Pico, we retreated to our place to have another round of beers.

The weather was extremely hot that day, so we settled in our backyard which has just been re-landscaped two weeks ago. Our 6 years old Shih-Tzu was also let out to play in the yard and because of his presence, our topic was soon shifted from Obama vs. McCain to dogs.

Then, my friend John told us a little story.

Years ago when he and his wife Cara were living in the NoHo area, they found three newborn puppies dumped on the their front lawn one day. Until then they have never thought of becoming dog owners, but the sight of these helpless puppies changed their mind. They took one in for themselves while finding the other two reliable homes through friends and relatives. They named the dog Buster.

When Buster grew into a full-sized dog, John and Cara were ready to leave NoHo for west LA. They still wanted to rent as John was afraid of being tied up by a mortgage. But they soon concluded that because of Buster, they were better off buying than renting. Few landlords allowed dogs and even if they did, they hiked the rent to such a level that it easily exceeded the normal mortgage payment.

So John and Cara scraped every penny they had and purchased a fixer in the westside. Not before long and all of sudden, the housing boom began and their home value skyrocketed. Even after the recent credit crunch and market corrections, because of its location, their home was still priced at the level that was way more than what they paid for. This was the single best investment they've ever made and John gave Buster the full credit.

When I first heard the story, I didn't think much. Then the next day while I was driving on the freeway, a thought came in my mind. The relation between Buster and John and Cara's home equity suddenly became clear. Wasn't it karma? They saved a dog and the dog in return rewarded them with financial security. Maybe it is true that all of our actions will bring consequences - sooner or later and only a matter of time. Moreover, it also reaffirms the law of paradox. 塞翁失马，焉知祸福 (sai weng shi ma, yan zhi huo fu). Behind bad luck comes good luck. Misfortune might be a blessing in disguise.

Seal and Kill

封杀 (Feng Sha) - Seal and Kill.

Everywhere you turn, you'd see this word appearing in news titles, blog entries and online commentaries on many of the Chinese websites.

A cyber Cultural Revolution seems be at full swing in China at this moment. Entering "封杀" in Google, you'll come up with more than 12 million results!

First seal and kill "The Super Girl," then Tang Wei, then Carrefour, then Sharon Stone and then Kungfu Panda... The list goes on and on. What used to be a way that the government exercises its censorship has now become a common artillery carried by Chinese netizens to instigate public outcries. 封杀！Let's call for a kill and seal! But what is missing here are common sense and basic human decency.

In recent months, the Chinese cyber world seems to be run by a bunch of hypersensitive agitators and enablers, who looks out for every opportunity to crush and condemn those whose views differ from theirs. Excessive and often profane languages are used for launching attacks. Deliberate manipulations of truth or even pure lies are also utilized to gain attention and support. This is exactly the same way as it did in the Cultural Revolution. However, unlike in the Cultural Revolution when many attackers used their real names, nearly all of those agitators and enablers are a nameless bunch. Rarely an entry you see on the Chinese web has been posted under one's real name. You can't help but wonder whether these posts are really reflecting the authors' true beliefs or simply a way of lashing out their frustrations, grievances or even revenge.

Let's wait and see who'll be the next to be picked out and be sealed and killed.

"Shanghai" Returns to Shanghai

Yes, after first denying a shooting permit, the Chinese film authority greenlit the film "Shanghai" to return to Shanghai to continue the shoot. I learned the news today.

I've been working on the script side of the production for some time now. I didn't write the script but was hired to help "improve" it. Won't be getting a writing credit but my contract warrants that my name will appear within the top ten spots in the end credits.

It's a Weinstein Company's production and stars John Cusack, Gong Li, Ken Watanabe and Chow Yun-Fat. The entire crew is shooting in London at this moment. Still waiting for word when or if they will return to Shanghai to wrap up the production there.

Young and Restless in China

An excellent documentary came out on PBS last night. It was done by the same "China Hand" Sue Williams who has made a strings of films on China in recent years. What's new about this one is that it's more current. It's about the young and restless in China.

But in reality, restlessness or 浮躁 (Fu Zao in Chinese) isn't a quality that is reserved only for young people. Everyone in China is restless in one way or another. The whole country is on the move and no one feels secure. As the amount of opportunities increases, so does people's expectations, ambitions and of course frustrations and crushed dreams. Today's China is essentially in the early stage of Capitalism: while enjoying unprecedented growth, it is also a battlefield where the law of "survival of the fittest" runs supreme.

Highly recommend this documentary.

USC Fighting Writing Alumni

Tuesday night, at the newly re-opened Casting Office in Studio City, former USC writing alumni came together to launch a new program called "USC Fighting Writing Alumni." This was an attempt to rejuvenate the connections they made at school and reaffirm the alliance they were all part of because of their associations with USC.

Of the 32 students from my year, roughly 10 people showed up including me. Still an impressive turnout, given that many have either moved out of LA or changed to different careers since they graduated. The new program promised more future gatherings as well as "matchmaking" services for alumni writers, producers and directors. I really hope that something good will come out of this program.

Vote of Conscience

Today, 3 June 2008, I voted for the first time in my life. It's a day worth remembering.

At the polling station near my home, I cast my vote in a semi-secluded booth. The ballot went through without a problem. Yeah, my vote is now being counted!

There was one measure on the ballot that actually concerned my own interest. But considering that it might not benefit the majority of people here in California, I cast against it.

I'm proud that I voted with conscience.

What if?

Whenever I visited Beijing, I’d always make time to check out its bookstores. It’s been both a hobby and a habit of mine. Back in the late 1980s when I was a resident of the city, I remember the two main bookstores - one carried books only in Chinese; the other, in languages other than Chinese, both run by the States and both situated in the busy shopping district of Wangfujing- were my regular hangouts on weekend as at the time, Beijing was literally a city free of cafes and bars. Nowadays, compared to the number of coffee houses and drinking dens that are in business in the city, the number of bookstores may still be minuscule, but the quantity and variety of books they’re selling and the size of some of their venues are nothing but. The mega bookstore in Xidan - right off subway line one - claims to have 300,000 titles on display and is 3-4 times the size of any Barns & Noble in the United States. In addition, it’s perpetually crowded. To save space and to keep customers from overstaying, the store offers no sitting facilities. As a result, many people choose to squat or sit on the floor to give a quick read to the books they intend to buy - which inevitably causes more congestion. Yet despite of all this, people keep flocking in. In general Chinese love and enjoy reading.

It was during these trips that I found one particular genre of books was gaining popularity in China. Those were books on spirituality, on ethics, on moral principles and on life as a whole. Besides titles written by Chinese, many western bestsellers such as “The Secret” have also made into China and most of all, people were buying them. Yet, certain titles that would otherwise be placed prominently in the “Spirituality Section” of a western bookstore, namely books on the teachings of the Dalai Lama, were achingly missing. What if those books became available in China, translated and read by ordinary Chinese? Will it help to bridge the gap between China and the west in view of Tibet and its spiritual leader?

Based on my own experience I think it will. When I lived in China, I have never read anything about the Dalai Lama or his teachings. All I knew was the offical line that he had fled Tibet in 1959 and was a separatist. After I moved to the United States and purely out of curiosity, I got hold of some books on him and his philosophy and read them. The experience was quite refreshing. For one thing, I learned the “other side” of the story that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to if I were still in China. But more importantly, I came to understand why he is so popular in the west.

In fact, his popularity is not based on advocating for the independence of Tibet. Rather, it’s based on promoting humanity, tolerance and self-cultivation. This is the core factor why he has a huge following in the west. Most people who pay money to listen to him or buy his books are attracted to his philosophy not to his politics. Also, as it turned out, reading those books didn’t convert me into a follower of him nor a supporter for Tibetan independence. It only gave me the knowledge to exercise independent thinking.

Knowledge is power. Back to the old days, Mao had once emphasized on the importance of being skeptical. Regardless of what he was referring to, skepticism may still be a value worth being promoted in today’s China because it’s the first step leading to knowledge, the real knowledge.