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December 07, 2007

Comments

zola

纠正一下:身份证还给我了。只是1200元钱没有还给我。

Rebecca MacKinnon

啊, 不好意思,搞错了.. 改了!

Charles Liu

There are plenty of reports on the ant farmers in Shenyang. Try this Baidu search:

http://www.sogou.com/sohu?query=%D2%CF%C1%A6%C9%F1+%C9%F2%D1%F4&num=10&p=01040100&dp=1&w=01020101

Also, baidu search for "蚁力神" alone, will yield many articles questioning this Amway-style herbal viagra MLM company, going back as far as 2004.

Charles Liu

Take this 2006 blog post for example:

http://tinyurl.com/yuufjm

Chinese netters have been talking about this MLM scam. Shenyang government have warned the public back in 2005 about Magic Ant Power MLM.

Now these farmers who got dupped by the pyramid scheme are threatening to disrupt train service in Shenyang - is that acceptable behavior according to our notion of democarcy and freedom?

Doesn't the Chinese government have the responsibility to safegaure the public interest?

Charles Liu

Here's another one from 3 months ago about Magic Ant Power MLM:

http://tinyurl.com/2ru25j

A Shenyang government worker and an Magic Ant Power insider both warned about the MLM scam:

- Shenyang government has warned the public about this, and urge them to invest wisely. The government's hands are also tied that MAP's has thus far met legal technicalities.

- MAP's financial record shows sales are neglegable compared to the deposit it recevies from distributing ant farms.

- Since the 2004 FDA ban on MAP due to trace of Viagra found in product, sales have declined. the 2005 financial statements were manipulated by accounting firm MAP hired thru personal connection.

Charles Liu

Opps, Sohu, that is... No idea why Sohu.com works.

mahathir_fan

Thanks Charles. At first, I thought free speech was suppressed again, but thanks to your links, I could see the justification.

It is sad that the government has to use forceful methods.

However, it is even more sad that people could be duped into believing in "ant powers".

The long term solution is to foster a generation of scientific thinkers. A generation that would think, analyze, and critic and reason. Not a generation that believes in hearsay or "luck" or superstition.

Until China has a generation of scientific thinkers, the government is doing the right thing to prevent these people from making the wrong decisions.

joseph

well... but if the government keeps preventing its people to think independently, a.k.a., "making the wrong decisions" (or any other decisions); the "generation of scientific thinkers" may not emerge in a thousand years.

also, being "scientific" is not the only way (or even necessary criteria) to make sane choices. science is no panacea =P

Charles Liu

Google.cn works now:

http://www.google.cn/search?hl=zh-CN&ie=GB2312&q=%D2%CF%C1%A6%C9%F1

Gaz Hayes

"The long term solution is to foster a generation of scientific thinkers. A generation that would think, analyze, and critic and reason. Not a generation that believes in hearsay or "luck" or superstition."

That will NEVER happen in China with the current government. Unfortunately that majority of a Mainland Chinese will remain little more than clever monkeys indefinately.

How can you learn to think analytically when you have nothing to analyse, and when you are rebuked for anylysing anything in school or what the textbook says?

I asked a government official in Wuhan why he thought China had to be so strict in monitoring the internet and media, his response was "Chinese can't think by themselves, we have to guide their thinking, China has no official religion, but those who aren't Buddhist are 'governmentist', we are their religion and we have to tell them what to think.

If the majority of Chinese stop believing in that religion, China will collapse."

So there you have it, these types of scams will continue to happen because:
1. Most Chinese can't think for themselves, they are like lambs waiting to be slaughtered
2. There is an endless supply of Chinese willing and happy to take advantage and cheat other Chinese, and if they pay off the local officials theres nothing to stop them.

If you think this post is a generalisation or racist, you need to get your arse to China, learn the language, and stay there for a good 5 years like me.

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