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China: Blogger-poets

John Kennedy · 14:24

In Qian Zhongshu's (钱钟书) 1947 novel Fortress Besieged (围城), one of the greatest works of twentieth-century Chinese literature, protagonist Fang Hung-chien attempts to build a career with a fake degree from an imaginary American university. As seen in a post yesterday [zh] from Bullog blogger Fang Zhouzi, life does still imitate art, seventy years later, and at even the highest levels in Chinese society:

吴征“博士”失母校：巴灵顿大学关门大吉

Wu Zheng “PhD” Loses alma mater: Barrington University's Lucky Day

在中国很著名的美国“大学”、吴征获得其博士学位的巴灵顿大学（又写做巴林顿、柏林顿、百林顿大学）在2004年被美国总审计局特殊调查办公室认定为属于标价贩卖文凭的“文凭制造厂”（diploma mill）。

The American “university” so renowned in China where Wu Zheng earned his doctorate, Barrington University, was deemed by the American Government Accountability Office's Office of Special Investigations as a “diploma mill”, selling diplomas for a fixed price.

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Latest Voices From Swahili Blogosphere

J. Nambiza Tungaraza · 11:57

The big question in Swahili blogosphere remains: who deserves government assistance and how should the Tanzania 's government assist financially all eligible higher education candidates?

Recently, sudents at the University of Dar-Es-Salaam held public demonstrations to protest against their colleagues who were dropped from the Higher Learning Students Loan Board (HLSB) list of beneficiaries, delayed disbursement of their loans, and the poor state of key social amenities at the university.

Charahani is of the opinion that the new system of granting loans to higher learning students is discriminatory, therefore favoring the rich.

Na hadithi hii inakuwa chungu zaidi. Wakati tuisheni ikilipuka juu, fedha ya mikopo ya serikali inazidi kuwa finyu na hivyo kuwafanya wanafunzi wengi wakiwa watoto wa wakulima na wafanyakazi kubeba zigo zito la kulipa tuisheni.

The story gets even bitter. While tuition keeps increasing, the government keeps reducing the amount of loan and therefore creating a huge financial burden to students, most of whom come from peasant and working class families.

Mjengwa views the new higher education loans system as a betrayal to the ideals that Tanzanians have held for the past forty-five years when access to education was a national priority. He cites a popular nationalistic song the protesting students were singing, “Kama si Juhudi Zako Nyerere” (Were it not for your efforts, Nyerere), to remind those in power of Nyerere's vision of education for all. The song pays tribute to the efforts of the first President of Tanzania, Mwalimu Nyerere, in building a nation based on his humanist vision of justice and equality, particularly for the poor.
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Hispanic Blogger Union

Milton Ramirez · 10:33

This a new project started by Carmen, a Spaniard with a healthy interest in the development of Spanish-language blogging. It began randomly collecting a few blogs that were called to her attention and by now the list has passed one hundred. Not only are the numbers impressive, but she's thinking of moving to a dedicated hosting service. It is in the interest of all Hispanic Bloggers to keep the project rolling.

Union de Bloggers Hispanos claims to be tired to be browsing only English language blogs:

Pues yo estoy cansada, y por ello quiero crear este blog para que todos podamos colocar en él nuestros blogs y navegar por ellos entender lo que decimos, poder dicutir con otros miembros que hablen en nuestra lengua, en fin entendernos.

Well, I'm sick of it and so I want to create this blog so that we can all find our blogs there and, by navegating among them, understand what we say; to be able to discuss with others who speak in our language, to finally understand each other.

So we are, and thanks to GVO you can get this piece of information. The blogs that belong to the Hispanic Blogger's Union (UBH) are classified by categories in agreement with the blog's author but you might want to check the whole list in here or participate in an old way to get noticed by search robots through this meme.

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Links for Roundups

East Asia

Tuan in Hue, Central Vietnam reports on the typhoon Xangsane, the strongest to hit Vietnam in 10 years. “You can not imagine how teribble it was this morning. From this early morning, around 3.00 or 4.00 AM until 4.00 PM today, the wind was very strong. Most of the trees on my street were uprooted and corrugated irons were flying like papers. All the advertising panels were broken. And then, heavy rain.”