The last edition of 2009 for Southern Weekly happened to fall on December 31.  The year end round up is also a decade ending round up, complete with prognostications about the next ten years.  For those interested in what quality Chinese journalism looks like, there is an interesting section on the year’s best reporting. 

The focus of the issue, however, is the person of the year for 2009.  The honor went to Han Han [韩寒] who has the most visited blog in the world and has been a best selling author for some time.  He also makes a name for himself racing cars.  Han Han was born in the ‘80s and and couldn’t be more different from other persons of the year who were born before 1978.  The headline for the section on Han Han reads: 2009 Person of the Year –To be Han Han is to be in your face. 

The choice took me by surprise because he seems to me a representative of youth culture rather than a leader. He has made no significant contributions to society but the force of his public persona and attitude towards life are a harbinger of things to come.  What will Chinese society be like when his generation takes the helm? 

He seems to me pragmatic to a fault. He is realistic and straightforward about what he thinks and what he thinks is often intelligent, yet far from intellectual.  He is apolitical.  He is focused on whatever makes him happy and realizing individual dreams, making him the closest approximation to the ‘me’ generation of the U.S. 

The interview he gave Southern Weekly did not have much depth, which seemed intentional.  If there is one difference between the Chinese ‘me’ generation and that of the U.S. it is that the Chinese are much less pretentious, at least in public. Han Han certainly does not take himself too seriously and maybe that's a lesson for us all. 

Here is a  rough translation of most of the interview titled "What I want most in the end is a harmonious life" with some links to year end round ups at some English language media at the bottom.

SW: It’s been ten years since you wrote Triple Door [《三重门》].  The world, China and even you have changed a lot in the first decade of this century.  How do you sum up the past ten years for you and for China?

Han Han: It’s like if you gave a person something as simple as a cup as a gift ten years ago to represent a lifetime, because the word for “cup” sounds like the word for “lifetime”.  Today you certainly wouldn’t want to give a “water container” as a gift because is a pun on the word “tragedy” that became popular in the last year or two.  You see, time only changes the times but there’s a lot of stuff that just doesn’t change.  It’s the same with me.  I don’t think I’ve gone through any dramatic changes over the last ten years. And I think it’s the same with the country.  There’s lots of things that haven’t really changed. It’s just that all the things that existed before have simply expanded. It’s being pushed along by the age, but the age often can’t push it because it’s just too heavy.  It’s like taking two steps forward, one step back. 

SW: In March of 2006 you had an online debate with Bai Hua, Lu Chuan and  Gao Xiaosong.  It was very entertaining way to express yourselves.  Everyone really enjoyed it.  Do you think you would do that kind of thing again today?

Han Han:  This isn’t something that I control at all.  What you’re really asking is if I’m going to seriously talk about literature, but what comes out is far from it. It’s because the  people who jump into the conversation take it in a completely different direction.  As an amateur I don’t have a problem with this.  Also, the ideas I expressed before are probably not all that interesting.  Not only were they uninteresting, they were not incisive either.  Actually, I think it’s better if people just have a good time rather than have more people come look at your blog.  As for the bad language, sometimes I just can’t help it.  I use that language even more when I race cars.  Almost every driver will curse when he hits another car.  But my foul language is used to express a state of mind and is directed at that state of mind.  It’s not aimed at a person.  There are no personal attacks.  It’s just expressing my thoughts at the moment.  What’s more important I think is to make yourself happy, which is the most important thing.  The motivation for everything is interest.  Everyone probably has a different understanding of the scope of the things that are important. 

SW: Let’s talk about what the public hopes for.  Some say they want you to become a mayor.  Some say it would be great if there were a million Han Han’s.  This shows your importance and it also shows society’s desire for a voice that is influential and penetrating.  How do you view these desires?

Han Han: I think that if one day there’s no one who cares about me it would make the world a much better place. 

SW: You are very good at reasoning in your writing.  What is most important to you when it comes to reasoning?

Han Han:  I think the most important thing is not to use allusions.  I used to like to tell stories, like once something happened to some person or something happened in such and such a country, but I’ve since found that when allusion is completely unnecessary for reasoning, this is when it is at its strongest. 

SW: Your prose can be very critical but it has very little ideological tone to it.  You yourself once said, “I’m someone who separates fact from fiction but has no particular stance.”  So, what’s your purpose in writing all these articles?  Do you feel that changing the system is a long and difficult process so it’s better to try to improve public life a bit from a more practical standpoint? 

Han Han: Everything comes from the desire to help through writing when things are unfair.  When I was little I wanted to be a reporter because I thought they could take all the unfair things in this world and uncover them.  Later I found out that newspapers do not belong to reporters.  Editors decide their fate, as well as editors in chief and even all other kinds of editing.  There are actually a lot of people like me who write.  It’s just that I was a best selling author before so I have more readers, but there’s lots of people who do this.  I’m just one book among thousands of others.  And as for institutional change, all I need is about 300 words to write this clearly.  Any more would be repetitious.  It’s really simple.  Whatever is suitable for humans is suitable for the world, unless you’re not human.  It’s a bit over the top to if you talk about improving public life from a practical standpoint.  When I see some practical things, I’m really just a lazy guy who can’t stand to be filled with the desire to create.  You’d say these things are just a bunch of bull. 

SW:  Your blog can be considered a very influential media source.  What is the idea behind this medium?

Han Han: The idea behind this medium is to read for free, but it won’t necessarily be published each week. 

SW: Intellectuals today are more and more inclined to recognize and support you even though you were seen as a anti-intellectual vanguard before.  Is there a contradiction in this?

Han Han: Can I ask what “anti-intellectual vanguard” means?  I just figured out this year what the difference is between left and right wing.  I think I want to strive to be at the vanguard of propagation. 

SW:  What do you dislike the most, whether it’s private or public?

Han Han: I most dislike those people who are called great at math but are idiots when it comes to logic.  The Internet has been around for many years and a lot of smart people have appeared but it can never dilute the concentration of stupidity in this world. 

Actually, what I hate the most is failure.

SW: What do you want most in the end?  A vibrant life?  A legendary life?  Something else?

Han Han: I want a harmonious life. 

Time magazine's person of the year is Ben Bernanke, who they say is the most powerful man on the planet. 

Britain's Guardian has a nice slide show of photos of New Year's celebrations around the world here.

The New York Times has a photo-essay of the major cultural events that happened in America in 2009 here.

Australia's Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting piece (with lots of photos) on the trouble with naming the previous decade here. 

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