A young woman had just finished her dancing class and was on her way home when I accosted her. She was Wan Li, a cadre at the economics ministry. She had gone to the Dalian Foreign Language Institute (she hadn't met Cherry Blossom there, unfortunately) but she had been raised in the central Fujian town of Sanming. That town had the reputation in China of being somewhat utopian. It had been developed by people from all over China, before the Cultural Revolution. Miss Wan claimed that everything that had been said about Sanming was true—no problems, no pollution, perfect integration, a model city.
Any Tibetans in Sanming?
No, Miss Wan said. They have to stay in Tibet and solve their own problems. But people in Sanming are very civilized. They are from all places. Like the United States!
A closer look at North Korean history reveals what Pyongyang’s leaders really want their near-farcical belligerence to achieve — a reminder to the world that North Korea exists, and an impression abroad that its leaders are irrational and unpredictable.
I will myself asseverate and bind it by an Oath, that the Muff thou bearest in thy Hand belonged unto Madam Sophia;