China shelves plan for astronauts on moon

Hi all,

Just found this initially on good old Slashdot.

I suppose the China Peoples Daily should be authoritative:

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/20...18_143624.html

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| Dave Downing, Somerset U.K. |
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In article ,
Dave Downing wrote:
I suppose the China Peoples Daily should be authoritative:
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/20...18_143624.html

Note that *it* doesn't say "shelves". It simply says they don't have such
a plan.

China's "plan" for manned lunar missions was Western wishful thinking plus
some misunderstandings of confusingly-worded announcements.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |

Dave Downing wrote:

Hi all,

Just found this initially on good old Slashdot.

I suppose the China Peoples Daily should be authoritative:

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/20...18_143624.html

Readers with a brain and who have been following the facts already
know that China has never been planning to go to the moon in the first
place, no plans exist to be shelved.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

(Henry Spencer) wrote in
:

China's "plan" for manned lunar missions was Western wishful thinking
plus some misunderstandings of confusingly-worded announcements.

Moreover, the announcements were likely only confusingly-worded in their
English translations.

--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

Henry Spencer wrote:

Note that *it* doesn't say "shelves". It simply says they don't have such
a plan.


I totally agree, but I got the title for the posting from the story on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/0...eut/index.html

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| Dave Downing, Somerset U.K. |
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In article , "Jorge R. Frank"
wrote:

(Henry Spencer) wrote in
:

China's "plan" for manned lunar missions was Western wishful thinking
plus some misunderstandings of confusingly-worded announcements.

Moreover, the announcements were likely only confusingly-worded in their
English translations...

Or would that, perhaps, instead, be "Engrish"?

--
"All over, people changing their votes,
along with their overcoats;
if Adolf Hitler flew in today,
they'd send a limousine anyway!" --the clash.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
Mike Flugennock's Mikey'zine, dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

"Henry Spencer" wrote in message
...

China's "plan" for manned lunar missions was Western wishful thinking plus
some misunderstandings of confusingly-worded announcements.

I would take anything the Chinese government (and a fair amount of Chinese
people) say with a shakerful of salt. They tend to lie a lot.

Or to be more generous, in Chinese culture there is a lot less importance
placed on concepts like "integrity" and "truthfulness". Different culture,
different mores.

--
Terrell Miller


"At one point we were this Progressive edgy group and we can't really equate
that with Brother Bear so I don't know really."
-Tony Banks

OM wrote:
On Wed, 19 May 2004 07:31:06 -0400, (Mike
Flugennock) wrote:


In article , "Jorge R. Frank"
wrote:


(Henry Spencer) wrote in
:


China's "plan" for manned lunar missions was Western wishful thinking
plus some misunderstandings of confusingly-worded announcements.

Moreover, the announcements were likely only confusingly-worded in their
English translations...

Or would that, perhaps, instead, be "Engrish"?


...Japanese is no different. Witness the infamous trade press
conference between Bush Sr. and one of Japan's top yakuzas back in '89
or thereabouts. Bush Sr. goes on about how the trade problem will be
fixed, the yakuza replies "It will be a difficult matter", which when
you properly transliterate it from the Japanese the true message -
"yeah, dream on, you Gaijin sap" - became very apparent. It wasn't
until the Japs reniged on every single "agreement" that White House
staffers started talking to transliterators who were fluent in the
Japanese culture *and* the language instead of basic translators who
just knew the language and not the thoughts behind what was being said
that this little shocker became apparent. Since then, the Diplomatic
Corps have been *very* careful to take into cultural concerns when
dealing with those parts of the world where this sort of thing can
happen with ease.
Wow, that must have been a dumber government than I ever thought. I
mean, in every travel guide book you can learn that the Japanese never
really directly give you a "No" and the code behind it is explained.

Harald

On Wed, 19 May 2004 07:31:06 -0400, (Mike
Flugennock) wrote:

In article , "Jorge R. Frank"
wrote:

(Henry Spencer) wrote in
:

China's "plan" for manned lunar missions was Western wishful thinking
plus some misunderstandings of confusingly-worded announcements.

Moreover, the announcements were likely only confusingly-worded in their
English translations...

Or would that, perhaps, instead, be "Engrish"?

....Japanese is no different. Witness the infamous trade press
conference between Bush Sr. and one of Japan's top yakuzas back in '89
or thereabouts. Bush Sr. goes on about how the trade problem will be
fixed, the yakuza replies "It will be a difficult matter", which when
you properly transliterate it from the Japanese the true message -
"yeah, dream on, you Gaijin sap" - became very apparent. It wasn't
until the Japs reniged on every single "agreement" that White House
staffers started talking to transliterators who were fluent in the
Japanese culture *and* the language instead of basic translators who
just knew the language and not the thoughts behind what was being said
that this little shocker became apparent. Since then, the Diplomatic
Corps have been *very* careful to take into cultural concerns when
dealing with those parts of the world where this sort of thing can
happen with ease.

OM

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"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

In article ,
Harald Kucharek wrote:
Wow, that must have been a dumber government than I ever thought. I
mean, in every travel guide book you can learn that the Japanese never
really directly give you a "No" and the code behind it is explained.

They weren't the only ones who missed this sort of thing at the time.
I remember seeing an article about software internationalization which
discussed how IBM was doing things all wrong for Japanese, and added that
IBM needed to learn that when senior people from Japan say "we have doubts
about your approach", that really means "you must be crazy".
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |