French Affair,
I advise you to stop aggravating everyone on this board lest the moderators start sending you up the "warning ladder". I had to learn that the hard way.
As for your comments on China, don't even get me started. I studied Mandarin in Beijing on a university study abroad program, as well as nearly a year in Taiwan as well; let me just say that from what you're telling me, you only saw what the mainland Chinese govt. aimed for a tourist to see. Let me guess, you went to Xian on a package tour, right? And saw all those pits filled with terra cotta soldiers in the museum featuring the excavations of all those Imperial tombs? Great...that's nice. I bet you even bought one of those little figurines those street vendors sell to you in little boxes? Wow- man, you're a genuine China expert. I'm impressed. :
I bet your tourist guide made a fat heap of
kuai from taking you to Beijing's Silk Market and getting a commission from the local vendors who overcharged a
lao wai (colloquial for foreigner) like you for that jade ornament you hang on your wall.
Since we're on the topic of Jews and Muslims in conflict, did you even consider travelling to Urumqi in Xinjiang province to see what the conditions the local Uighurs (more Uzbek and Kazakh descent than Chinese descent) if you're such a staunch proponent of the plight of Muslims anywhere? Does the word
Hui Ren ring a bell?