China protests Corvallis mural
CORVALLIS, Ore. - When walking past the old Corvallis MicroTechnology building downtown, passersby cannot help but notice a new piece of artwork.
"It's a little more bolder in contrast to what I'm used to seeing in Corvallis," said Rio Smith, a resident of Corvallis who passed by the mural.
It's a huge 10-foot by 100-foot mural with brightly colored images spanning across the building's facade.
Images on the mural portray police beating Tibetan demonstrators and other violent responses to protest of Chinese rule.
Taiwanese-American businessman David Lin decided to create a mural on his soon-to-be restaurant depicting a message that promotes independence for Taiwan and Tibet.
"I was born in Taiwan, and we had a similar type of jail and torture in Taiwan in about 1948," Lin said.
Lin said his relative and friend were put in jail and beaten for no reason in China.
"Right now, it's really important to make Americans aware that China is a real threat," Lin said.
According to city officials, Chinese students at Oregon State saw the images on the mural and found them offensive.
In early August, the Chinese Consulate General wrote a letter to the mayor of Corvallis asking the mural be taken down.
The City of Corvallis replied to the Chinese Consulate General's letter saying the U.S. Constitution promises freedom of speech to everyone in the U.S., including artists.
Mayor Julie Manning then met with two Chinese representatives.
"There really was an understanding of their perspective and the concerns they have," Manning said, "but also an appreciation of where we live."
Lin said he is still a bit concerned about the heat he's getting from the mural.
"Yes, I'm scared but now is not the time for me to back down, it's not," Lin said. "I need to stand on my own feet no matter what."
I have a relative who teaches in China. It is a lot scary because he has to be very cautious and careful with what he tells the children he teaches. He is not allowed to talk about Tienanmen Square or even who actually won WW2 because China won that war.Â
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You cant really blame the students because in all honesty their entire lives they have been taught that somethings never happened.Â
Yes they are the NUMBER ONE threat ..but when realized it will be too late! another war ..but we will not see it ..But the crux is all this is ..they can change that fabric in time ..choices all choices .. no happy faceÂ
Screw you, China.  ANd screw the Chinese students who found this offensive. Welcome to AMerica. Now there's the door.
@OregonOrator thats not a good idea,there is a lot of them and there could be some chafing and dehydration
When Chinese diplomats in San Francisco get ants in their pants over aTibet and Taiwan-themedmural painted on a building in Oregon owned by an American citizen,the true face of China's ''soft power'' and ''peaceful'' becomesapparent: both are outright lies.
China is not interested in ''soft'' power, and it is not interested inany ''peaceful'' rising.There aren't scare quotes large enough to go around such words tosignal just how deceitful Beijing is, but people are wakingup to all this, as China keeps putting its foot in its dirty mouthover and over again.
The story from Oregon was first reported in a local newspaper inCorvallis, where the mayorof the small college town was quoted as telling the Chinese diplomatsthat America wasa country based on freedom of speech and -- paraphrasing here -- noton the rule of thugs and dictators. The twodiplomats drove back to San Francisco with their tails between theirlegs and reported to their superiors on just how arrogant theCorvallis mayor was.
And the story didn't die there, either. Picked up by the AssociatedPress and Reuters, the Corvallis mural brouhahawent global, with news reports reaching from India to London, fromParis to Tokyo. Both wire stories, withoutany editorializing, painted a very negative picture of how China'sso-called ''soft power'' operates, trying to bully Americanmayors with threats and bribes. It didn't work, and now all the worldcan see once again just how sinister Beijing is.
"China pressures Oregon city over businessman's mural" was the APheadline. The Reuters wire story went with pretty muchthe same thing. There aren't too many ways to say how repugnantChina's actions were.
In its not-so-diplomatic letter last month, the Chinese consulate inSan Francisco said that the mural had apparently ''caused strongresentment from the local [ethnic] Chinese community and [mainland]Chinese students studying in [Corvallis]". Actually, there are just1,600 ethnic Chinese studying at Oregon State University this year asundergraduates and graduate students, and not all of them are fromChina: some of them are fromSingapore, Malaysia and Taiwan as well.
Asking the Corvallis mayor to take ''effective measures" to remove themural -- which depicts Chinese cops beating Tibetan demonstrators andTibetans setting themselves on fire, along with scenes of Taiwanesedefiance to Beijing -- the two Chinese officials got an earful andwere told that not only were theyworking in the America now and not in China and that the mural wasprotected speech under the First Amendment. Under the circumstances,she told the two hapless and cluelessdiplomats that she no authority to order its removal.
The letter from the Chinese officials to the Corvallis mayorunderlined the current good ties between Oregon and China, includingupcoming visits to China by the state's governor and a delegation ofstate legislators, but at the same time, also underlined againstjeopardizing those relationships. That's how China operates in thefree world. From the UK to Canada,from France to Germany, anywhere where China posts its diplomats, it'swar against Taiwan, Ai Wei Wei, Tibet. That's playing hardball, that'sdemagoguery, that's the People's Republicof China in action and hardly soft power and peaceful rising.
A similar incident happened in New Jersey earlier this year, when agroup of rightwing lawmakers from Japan flew to the U.S. to lodge aprotest against a small local memorialset up in a New Jersey park paying respects to the Korean ''comfortwomen'' who were forced to serve as indentured sex slaves for theJapanese Imperial Army during World War II.The memorial was paid for and erected by a group of Korean-Americansin New Jersey who were merely excising their right to free speech andfreedom of expression.
But when theJapanese diplomatic corps found out about this memorial, all hellbroke loose. And just as China tried to force the hand of a small townmayor in Oregon, the Japanese lawmakerstried to bully a mayor of a small New Jersey town to have the memorialtaken down. The Japanese were told the same thing that the Oregonmayor told the Chinese: this is not yourcountry and bully to you.
This is not the end of these diplomatiic gaffes. Again, somewhere inthe U.S. or Canada or the UK or Australia, Chinese diplomats will takeoffense to something or other -- a documentary film festival featuringa movie about Ai Wei Wei, for example, or a new Taiwan muralspotlighting Taiwan's freedom and democracy as a sovereign nation --and angry letters will be sent out, followedup by phone calls and personal visits. These things will happen againand again in many Western nations, and each time the beleaguredChinese diplomats will return to their offices red-faced and seethingwith anger. It won't end until the PRC ceases to be, and that day iscoming soon, within the next century for sure.
Patience is advised. One day, China and its shenanigans will behistory. And the mayor of Corvallis will be remembered as a hero. Shestood up for what's right in the world. And for Taiwan, too.
Just the beginning, wait until they own us, Just keep printing that money.
the communist, terrorist, evil chinese regime ! They have been killing Tibetans in Tibet ever since the communist nation militarily invaded Tibet in 1949. David LIN IS A HERO! I am flying all the way to portland and that town to shake his hand and enjoy Tibetan food at that restaurant! Thank you for supporting the truth!
 @free tibet! You don't have to go to Portland, the (not-yet-open) restaurant is in Corvallis.
Free speech EXISTS HERE China! If you're embarrassed by the truth DO something about it. You cannot censor Americans in America. God Bless the U.S. of A.
@LifeisGOOD007 if we have free speech why do you denegrate republicans with your insults
Truth hurts, China. Just because you can censor your people doesn't mean you can censor ours. Mind your own effin business! I'd love to know how they even received word of the mural. The owner shouldn't be afraid. I'm glad to see he's standing up for what's right.
 @PleaseBeSmart "According to city officials, Chinese students at Oregon State saw the images on the mural and found them offensive."
@OMG! @PleaseBeSmart Then those Chinese students can go home and get an education there...if they're lucky..
The government of China doesn't have anything better to do than this? Â If China doesn't have anything to hide, then why is it so sensitive? Â I say leave the mural and extend it around the entire building. Â I'll be eating at this restaurant next time I'm up that way!
Congratulations to KVALÂ for providing the first television coverage of this inspiring story!
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Heartfelt thanks to Mr. Lin, Mayor Manning, and the people of Corvallis for standing firm in defending the freedom of expression against the bullying tactics of the PRC government.
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I hope to have the honor and privilege of visiting the city and the restaurant in the near future!