laotou, while no-one can deny that China suffered at the hands of foreign powers, I'd be interested in your view as to why not one Indian that I've met is as hung up on its past humiliation ("guochi" if you must) as the Chinese people I have met? India was completely colonised, China was not.

Furthermore, can I ask why on earth you would teach your children a "philosophy of hatred" of any kind?! Hatred only breeds hatred. Even the most liberal of the Chinese youth that I have met still say that Japanese people are 'bad in their hearts' or other such similar nonsense. How is the government to be applauded for teaching (for indeed they do) such hatred to the young? In what way does this benefit ANYONE going forward?

Final thing, if you like people from these countries as individuals, surely it is only an elementary logical step to the next, entirely obvious conclusion - that the 'country' IS the people, and so if you like the people, how can you hate the country? You can certainly hold contempt for, for example, the Japanese wartime administration or the Nazi party, but to label a country on this basis either shows a lack of intellect or willful self-deceit.

Cultural relativism has its place, but that is not in apologising for deliberate, manipulative hatred.

JJ, (is that really your full given name?) I'm just completely fascinated by this claim: "there is a God. I speak from personal experience". Would you please care to elaborate. Thanks.

ps: "Guess we'll find out who is "right" when we die" - interesting theological claim, and when I say 'interesting', I mean 'tired and fatuous'. I think any non-believer who, upon his death, 'woke' to find himself in some form of afterlife would be highly surprised, then probably go into denial, then most likely think "oh b*gger, I was wrong". But of course, learn to accept the evidence presented to them, as that is the foundation of the non-believer's world view - evidence, not blind guesswork. Of course, we'd all be in hell anyway, no matter if we'd helped people our entire lives, because, remember this folks, its not about what we do, its all about faith.

One final thing, which is relevant to the points that Horse was making yesterday about the kindness of Christians, is that it is interesting to look at the countries around the world that actually exhibit the greatest compassion for their citizens. Countries like Sweden, Denmark and Norway (and even Cuba while we're at it) care for their poor to a much higher degree than most others, and also happen to have some of the lowest levels of religious belief in the world. On the flip-side, the hardcore republican right-wing in the US are largely drawn from the evangelical christian movement, and we are all familiar with the level of compassion they show for their fellow citizens (in economic terms).....and the way they treat those (Obama, for example, or "the anti-Christ" as he is known to many) who propose modestly progressive taxation to correct this abhorrent disregard for those in need.

Yours godlessly, Richard.

Monsieur Horse, without wishing to get into a low-level theological discussion, any system that makes 'faith' more important than being good can in no way claim moral authority. "Forced conversion is not a tenet of Christian belief." is an interesting claim, given that it has been the modus operandi of said pagan-egyptian hybrid for roughly 1950 of the last 2000 years. In addition, claiming that "you to [sic] are 'religious.' The only difference is you worship [sic] bankrupt self." is palpable nonsense. A lack of belief is not the same as holding a different belief. The arrogant assumption that we can know and understand all is yours, my friend. When I don't know something, I don't simply fill in the gaps with an all-powerful being that explains everything, I admit my ignorance and hopefully eventually find an answer with a degree of evidence, which in turn brings me to the baffling claim, "You are way more narrow minded than most evangelical Christians". I don't even know where to start on this. Faith rejects reason. Reason is what leads to questioning. Questioning is the foundation of an open mind.

Plus, "[all kinds of bad stuff] is what humanism leads to" - Humanism was also a key factor in the enlightenment in Europe, the philosophy of Locke and Paine that informed the founding tenets of the United States, and the movement away from stultifying theocracy towards democracy. What an awful legacy to leave....

Anybody that helps people in need gets my full support, but if the only reason that they are helping others is because they think God wants them to, or on penalty of damnation, then my support is somewhat qualified. The implication here is that if it wasn't for 'God', then you wouldn't help others, which is in equal measure horrifying and false. Do good things because they're good, and do them because you want to help people. Simple.

So what you are basically saying, dearest gaoxing, is that everyone in Kunming should have learned English, so that you can get laid, buy a cellphone or take a taxi...sounds like a compelling case, why don't you get on the phone to Hu Jintao and kindly explain your situation. I'm sure that he would understand and make sure that everyone goes and learns how to speak English, at CCP expense, so that you can 'make it' here.

Or you could print out/learn the name of places you want to go to and show/tell taxi drivers. Or point at a cellphone in a shop and give them money. Or ask all your friend to help you. You know, think about a problem and reach a solution.

Or indeed, you could maybe do what the rest of us do, try to learn some of the language of the country you decided to move to, you lazy pr*ck.

Just fyi, the ambulance turned up about 5 minutes after the drugged-up fools in question had bundled the girl in a taxi. We explained the situation. They were concerned about her, and asked us if we had a way to contact the guys. We suggested they asked at Ganesh if they really wanted to know. Clearly they didn't ask...

As for responsibility, I agree that it would be good to encourage some kind of preventative action, but when the people in question are so completely wasted, it is pretty impossible to rein them in. Best advert I've ever seen for staying off drugs.