We need to add some information to a recent Reddit thread that was started by one of the Asia Times readers who posted, uncommentingly, the link to an article by our newest contributor—a Beijing-based financial industry veteran by the pen name” Han Feizi,” titled” From low trust to high in China.”
Snake5k was the first to respond, recalling that” the exact same explanations as this guy Han Feizi” had been made by a” suspended” Twitter/X users using the handle Doggy_Dog1208.
Bransbrother came in second, claiming that” Han Feizi does no exist.” Is n’t this publisher just Doggy_Dog1208? a third audience, correct s230- sue internet, questioned.
Very good, yes, snake5k retorted.
In actuality, nobody these days uses the control Doggy_Dog1208 to publish on X. ( A badge of honor from Elon Musk’s enforcers? ) X claims that it was indeed suspended. However, there is currently a DoggyDog1208 bill that is effective and does not distinguish between Dog and Dog. Like the previous bill, DogDog1208 does discuss the exact topics that Han Feizi finds interesting in a similar manner.
However, the theories put forth by two Facebook participants that a Han-Doggy connection exists failed to stop bransbrother, who was obviously just getting warmed up, from jumping into speculative speculation. I apologize, but does anyone have any reason to be wary of this artist? Bransbrother enquired.
Bransbrother first suggested that Han might be a hanjian ( traitor to the Han Chinese state and/or Han ethnicity ), and then he came to that conclusion.
The likelihood is that this story was created by a strange Asia Times team writer, not just some hanjian Chinese person. According to legend, the writer’s name is Han Feizi. However, in the third century BCE, Han Fei ( or frequently also known by that name ) was a Chinese Legalist political philosopher. Another title for one of his Legalist texts is Han Feizi. One could argue that the writer is who he claims to be and that this is just a surname. But why would the artist initially require a false? None of the articles he has written—in terms of subject, politics, etc.—would have a bad financial, business, social, or personal impact on him. And the majority of people wo n’t realize that Han Feizi is the name of a historical figure from China because they are unaware of it and have no knowledge of Chinese history.
Bransbrother did n’t seem to find it ironic that he and the other Reddit debaters on the thread were also posting under aliases when discussing this. Asia Times, he continued, “probably is just your regular American big business and financial interests.”
” It is my contention that this Asia Times article is a fake article/news,” Bransbrother said. Additionally, the artist is a fraud.
That served as the signal for snake5k to dive up in:
This article seems quite non-Chinese, but the creator is obviously European because he makes numerous references to his own career. Han Feizi is undoubtedly a surname, and Asia Times is the only publication that uses it. The mask is peculiar, I agree, but it’s not always shady. TBH I’m not certain what his overall thesis is, other than the fact that, in general, the West undervalues China, which I concur with.
The thread’s most recent comment, from Tserrieddnich HuiGuo, asked:” After further discussion of the specific article in question:
But which is simpler, hiring these individuals or making them up on the spot? Maintaining several “personalities” may be necessary for that, which I believe is unlikely for anti-China propagandists given their general lack of intelligence.
a brief history
When Asia Times was first established as a newspaper printed paper based in Bangkok in 1995, it started dealing with similar problems right away. The Thai internet tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul owned the newspaper at the time.
Additionally, the editor in chief was Thai. An English-language publishing written and edited by and for Asians was required by the business unit.
Asians were the focus of the initial information staff’s recruitment efforts. Some replied.
However, there were also challenging situations, like Japan. Most seasoned, prestige-conscious Chinese journalists were reluctant to join an unnamed publishing with headquarters in a Third World Asian nation. The report hired me, then a senior of nearly 20 years as an Asia-based journalist, after several of them had declined offers to be Tokyo bureau chief.
Skeptics appeared to be eagerly anticipating for a mistake. A letter to the editor was sent by a purported Nepalese reader pointing out that” Bradley Martin is not an Asian” ( likely one of our Western rivals having some fun with the new competition ). I acknowledged the fact in a tongue-in-cheek op-ed element in response, but added that I intended to fix the issue surgically.
( Since then, if I may stray for a moment, such issues have become so tense in some places that humor is less effective at defending. ) My personal roots are in white Southern British, and the protagonist of my book is half Korean American. A Hong Kong artistic agent declined to symbolize me, saying that the publishing sectors in New York and London had image if I appropriated the Asian side of the main character’s culture.
Returning to the goal of this article, which is to add information to a debate on the Reddit thread, let’s think about Bransbrothers ‘ try to categorize Asia Times as one of” standard Western large business and financial pursuits.”
The original Asia Times did n’t do well financially with print. Soon, the papers was just online. Over the years since the writer’s establishment, ownership has also changed. However, despite all the changes, Asian, or more specifically Chinese in the present, continues to be Asia Times ‘ largest shareholder, just as it was back then.
The use of nicknames among our artists has been uncommon. The author of” The Decline of the West” was channeled ironically by David P. Goldman in the most notable instance when he wrote a column under the pen name Spengler. ( Asia Times has never been particularly positive about the future of the West. )
In a 2009 paragraph, Spengler revealed his true identity and explained why he had felt the need to go undercover.
Around 1999, I began penning a column called ROAH ( short for Really Old Asia Hand ) in which I channeled the long-missing Thai silk king Jim Thompson ( speaking of stories concocted “out of whole cloth” ). My arrogance was that after Rip van Winkle left, former OSS detective Thompson had returned as a centenarian. Since his mysterious departure in Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands in 1967, ROAH was prone to awe at the modifications that had occurred in the area.
In the early days of digital publishing, the man who was publishing Asia Times at the time did n’t like my column. Since I was n’t a fan of his, there was some balance there. ( Have I mentioned that he and his wife, Sondhi, a close friend of the owner of Asia Times at the time, had converted some space in the newsroom into an infant nursery? ) Please do n’t start me. )
The publication ordered the column to be spiked as I sat across from him at his office in Bangkok. As the handling editor, I told him bluntly but honestly that he was a businessman and therefore unqualified to pass for an editorial judgment. The editor immediately fired me because I was as easily triggered as Donald Trump in the TV Assistant time.
That self-employed editor did n’t last for very long, and now, years later, I’m back at Asia Times. Recently, I’ve considered bringing the Actually Old Asia Hand again for his own ovation as well. It’s doubtful, but perhaps not completely impossible, that Jim Thompson just drank a elixir and dozed off in the mountains like the fictional Washington Irving character while avoiding being eaten by tigers or killed by Communist guerrillas. If so, and if he’s still alive, ROAH is getting close to turning 118 right then.
Asia Times users who are fans of channeled older men are in luck on two works, though, even if bringing Thompson up turns out to be nothing more than a desire. 1 ) Spengler also favors us with the odd release. And now 2 ) we’re gratefully getting the sporadic gift from Han Feizi.
Han has n’t spoken to me, and I’m not sure of his real identity, but he goes into great detail about life in the Chinese diaspora in his columns. Han has revealed his true identity to a few different senior editors of the Asia Times, and they claim he is of Chinese ancestry. That, in my opinion, dispels any concerns about social appropriation.
Han is not using that handle as his Asia Timesbyline if he is DoggyDog1208, which I would n’t be at all surprised to learn is the same.
In fact, some critics may come to the conclusion that pen-naming yourself after a black singer is grounds for bringing charges of first-degree cultural appropriation if he were to sign off that way on our home page ( even just for lack of something better to accomplish ).
Since the globe was able to wait years for Spengler to address the issue in his own situation, I suppose we can wait at least that much for Han to explain why a surname is necessary.
Let me extend a warm welcome to our new contributor to the very exclusive ( three member ) Channelers ‘ Club of Asia Times writers. I may whisper the password, but I must keep the secret hand a secret. ” So’s your old man,” it says.
Bradley K. Martin works as an associate director for Asia Times.