What Was Happening in the World 100 Years Ago in 1912?

Many things that happened in 1912 shaped the lives of generations to come.

Significantly, as in 2012, the end of the world scenario was already there. There were persistent rumours in Novgorod, Russia that the anti-Christ had already been born and the world would soon end.

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• People lived much shorter lives in 1912. Average life expectancy in USA was 51,5 in 1912 (now 78,3)
• The car began to change the way people live. Ford's Model T was being mass-produced in USA.
• The first electric self-starter for automobiles introduced – you didn’t need to go out and crank the car to start by turning a heavy handle.
• In most “developed” countries women were not allowed to vote.

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• Zeppelins were seen as the future of air travel, but airplanes were becoming more common. Women (at least one) were allowed to fly in the UK, but not vote until 1928.
• The first air force in the world, the Royal Flying Corps (Royal Air Force nowadays) formed in 1912. Dropping bombs from the sky became a common practice from then on.
• The Radio started becoming a major communication tool. The Titanic would be the first ship to send a radio SOS before it sank on April 14^th 1912.
• Unions and progressive legislation started making the life of the workingman more comfortable and safer. Purer food and safer drug laws began making life healthier for everybody.

Wars going on in 1912:

• Serbia, Montenegro and Greece declared war on Turkey.
• Turkey attacked Bulgaria.
• Italians at war with Turkey and took over Libya.
• US Marines invaded Nicaragua (leaving finally in 1925) and Honduras
• US forces land in Cuba to quell anti-discrimination protests by Afro-Cubans

Italian Dirigibles bombing Turkish troops. The first aerial bombing in history! Photo source:

Now let’s take a look at what was happening around the world in 1912:

Australia

• First air crash in Australia, between Mount Druitt and Rooty Hill
• The Maternity Allowance Act 1912 granted a “Baby Bonus” of five pounds (325 GBP today) to the mother of every child born in Australia. No one even thinks of including indigenous and non-citizens. 

China

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• Bad things begin to get worse for China. Empress Dowager Longyu endorses the Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor on 12.2.1912. This ends 2000 years of imperial rule in China.
• The Republic of China is established on 1^st January 1912 on mainland China (now they govern only Taiwan). Sun Yat Sen loses his presidency to Yuan Shikai (General who wanted to have himself crowned as the emperor during his presidency after Sun Yat Sen’s death).
• Republic of China adopts the Gregorian calendar

France

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• First non-stop Paris to London flight by aviator Henri Seimet in 3 hour
• 3 year military service chosen unanimously by the French council of war
• Morocco becomes a protectorate of France  
• The Archbishop of Paris decreed that "Christians must not tango." 

India

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• India’s first Indian Anglican bishop Vedanayakam Samuel Azariah appointed
• In 1912 India introduced compulsory registration of motor vehicles.
• Muslim Indian doctors and nurses join the Red Crescent organization established in 1912 to help Turkish troops in the Balkan war of 1912.
• Decision taken to move capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi
• Rabindranath Tagore, on his way to England by boat from India translates his poem Gitanjali into English. His son loses the poem in his father’s briefcase on the London Tube. An honest man tracks them down and returns the papers. Tagore’s friend Sir William Rothenstein hears about the poem, contacts W. B. Yeats. Eventually Tagore becomes the first non-Westerner to get the Nobel Prize in 1913.

Russia

Familiar? No, not Saddam or Gaddafi but Rasputin of Russia.

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• Bolshevik Conference in Prague ‘expels’ the Mensheviks - the Bolsheviks are formally established as a separate party
• Lenin engineers Stalin, Zinoviev, and Ordzhonikidze on the Central Committee, to control Malinovsky 
• Pravda, the Soviet communist party newspaper begins publishing 
• Rasputin’s enemies publish the Czarinna’s adoring letters to Rasputin. Public outrage causes him to flee St.Petersburg. Rasputin returns at the Czarinna’s request and the young Czarevich’s health improves
• Strikes begin in the Lena goldfields in Siberia as the company forces workers to eat meat from horses’ penises. Troops fire and kill 200 peaceful marchers.
• Worker’s health insurance act passed by the Russian parliament, the Duma.
• The Rothschilds sell all their Russian oil interests to Royal Dutch (Shell)

Thailand/Siam

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• Failed uprising against the absolute monarchy. The new king Vajiravudh, who considered himself an Edwardian gentleman, began his plans to westernize Siam. He spent his time translating Shakespeare into Thai, establishing a Wild Tiger Corps personally answerable to him alone and running up huge state debts. Emboldened by the successful overthrow of the Qing dynasty in China some army officers unsuccessfully plotted to overthrow the absolute monarchy (achieved in 1932).

UK

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• Literacy rate in UK is 40% in 1912 (now 99%)
• Minimum wages for miners introduced after strike threats
• Suffragettes smash shop windows in Oxford Street and destroy Pillar boxes. They were often jailed, force-fed when they went on a hunger strike and released so they didn’t die in prison.
• Harriet Quimby, is the first woman pilot to fly across the English Channel.
• Piltdown man, posed as the missing link between apes and humans. (It took 40 years to debunk the hoax).
• A courier driving a horse-drawn delivery truck earned enough to buy 34 pounds of bread on his daily wages - exactly the same as a carpenter or mason in 1450. 

USA

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• U.S. Public Health Service is established
• New Mexico is the 47^th state and Arizona becomes the 48^th state
• First use of zippers in clothing
• Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki gives 3000 cherry blossom trees to Washington, D.C. to symbolise the warm friendship between the countries.
• A 190 kg meteorite explodes over the town of Holbrook, Arizona. No deaths.
• Salonkeeper John Schrank shoots President Theodore Roosevelt. With a gaping wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt delivers the speech. The 50 page written speech and a steel spectacle case in his breast pocket had stopped the bullet from going too far and saved his life.
• Average yearly income is $1,033 (for 2011 it is $ 42, 979.61)
• A gallon of gas is 7 cents (now $ 4.50)
• A loaf of bread is 5 cents (now $ 5)
• A medium priced home was $ 2750 (now $ 300 000 - $ 500 000)

The Vatican

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• Pope Pius x (St. Pius) issued his Encyclical letter Lacrimabili Statu and writes 

“When so many abhor the faith or fall away from it, the zeal for spreading the Gospel among the barbarous nations is still strong in the clergy.”

Predictions Made in 1912

The coming of the wireless era will make war impossible, because it will make war ridiculous. - 

Guglielmo Marconi, pioneer of radio, Technical World Magazine, October, 1912, page 145.

This has obviously not materialised. Currently, there are 37 ongoing wars, civil-wars and insurgencies, which demand more than 1000 deaths per year according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Programme.

If you are wondering what in the world happened 100 years ago, you might be tempted to worry if 2012 is really the end of the world as so many are clamouring. 

No, rest assured, one thing is sure - The world is not going to end in 2012!

Unique Role of Colours in Chinese Cultural Symbolism

Chinese colours – are colours in Chinese culture used differently than colours in other cultures?

Since ancient times, China has been a fascinating and extraordinarily rich culture steeped in complex codes of colour symbolism. One feature, however, sets Chinese use of colour in daily life apart from other civilizations – you rarely see objects with only a single colour and no patterns, graphics or calligraphy on them. 

Compare a Chinese envelope (Hóng Bāo in Mandarin and Lai See in Cantonese) to a Western design.

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See how a roadside condom advert from Ghana contrasts with a Chinese version.

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and this one in Beijing

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Symbolic Meaning of Colours in Chinese Culture

Every culture has colour codes, which ascribe symbolic meaning to what colours represent. Sometimes the key to decoding this colour symbolism can be very perplexing to outsiders as they depend on context, social hierarchy, ritual function and other connotations.

Black in ancient China was the king of colours and yet sometimes considered evil and not commonly worn though the I Ching considers black as the colour of Heaven. Possibly as a result of Western influence, wearing black is sexy and common in China now and one sees black in Chinese funerals and a black ribbon is placed over the deceased’s photo.

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Red = Joy, good fortune and virtue, used in all festive occasions. Envelopes containing money gifts given at festive occasions like weddings and the New Year are usually red. Red symbolises energy and the element of fire in Chinese metaphysics. Red is strictly forbidden at funerals though it is closely connected with the communist government. Chinese athletes typically tend to wear red in their uniform to bring good luck. Is it possible that there is a scientific basis for that belief? 

Norbert Hagemann, Bernd Strauss and Jan Leissing, Psychology researchers at the University of Muenster claim that sports referees in Taekwondo typically give 13% better points to athletes wearing red than blue.

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White = Represents brightness, purity and fulfilment. It is also the colour for grieving, the dead. Earlier people wore white at funerals like in India still nowadays.

Yellow = The national colour. At many points in Chinese history only the emperor and his close family were allowed to wear golden yellow. In Chinese Buddhism, yellow represents freedom from samsara or the world of phenomena and material. Yellow represents the earth element.

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Green = Good health, prosperity and harmony. Green hats, in Chinese folk tradition, are a sign of infidelity. It is used as an idiomatic expression for a cuckold. Chinese Catholic bishops, avoid using the customary green hat or galero and use violet, blue, scarlet or black hats. 

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Blue = Symbolises immortality. Dark blue is worn at funerals and sombre occasions.

How Chinese Art and Mythology Use Colours to Portray Characters

In Chinese mythology and theatre, deities usually have red makeup. Contrary to Western practice a simple and honest person wears black makeup while a crook or a villain wears white makeup.

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In Chinese Buddhism, gods appear in white garments and the devils are black while naughty goblins are red. Buddhist “priests” use yellow robes and the dead are buried in yellow.

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In Chinese art and literature, purple robes indicate an academic. Different ranks of government officials (usually behaving like gods or demi-gods at least) wore different coloured balls of glass or stone on their caps to signify their rank.

Zhang Yimou, the celebrated film director who was responsible for the spectacular opening ceremony of the 2008 summer Olympics at Beijing, uses colour themes splendidly. Most of his movies have colours in their names e.g., Yellow Earth (1984), Red Sorghum (1987), Raise the Red Lantern (1991), Curse of the Golden Flower (2006).

Each Season Has Its Own Colour in Chinese Symbolism

• Spring in China is associated with greenish blue. This symbolises an abundance of vitality and vigour.
• Summer in China is bright red as it represents the fire element.
• Autumn turns into white with a bluish tint. The element for autumn is metal and the direction is west. It is a time to be tranquil and serene after the heat of summer.
• Winter in China is black, even though parts of China have snowfall. Winter is marked by an absence of water. Black is the colour of water, which at winter withdraws into the northern “shallows of the world”.
• Yellow is the colour between the seasons.

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Symbolism of the Chinese Flag

Why is the Chinese flag red?

The designer of the Chinese flag, Zeng Liansong, chose red and yellow because they are the most auspicious Chinese colours. His original idea was to portray the sun under which all China lives in perfect happiness as the large yellow star on a red background. In order to be approved by Mao, the large star became the Chinese Communist Party. The smaller stars, sustained by the large one, are the four classes mentioned by Mao (the workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie, patriotic capitalists).

An alternate explanation is that the stars portray the four pillars of the Chinese nations, the soil, Mind, Wealth and Labour – the red colour stands for sacrifice and yellow for being grounded (to remind people that everything comes with a cost as China is grounded in the great sacrifices of the Communist Revolution).



How Chinese Leaders Use Colours in Costumes

The most influential person in China, Chairman Mao carefully avoided the imperial yellow and used red only in badges or armbands. Chairman Mao Tse Tung mostly kept to grey, Mao suit blue or army green.

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Sun Yat Sen, who is credited as being the chief architect overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in China and celebrated as the Father of the Nation also avoided colour.

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US President Richard Nixon tries to match sombre colourless attire with Chairman Mao’s wife Jiang Qing, who later became notorious as the “Gang of Four”.

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Years later, the US president Carter tried to blend in the no-colour grey dress theme when meeting with the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.

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The current microblogging and modern Chinese president Hu Jintao has brought a touch of colour to Chinese leader’s outfit. Though he carefully avoids imperial yellow, he uses bright red and the suits are not grey but Western style dark blue or black.

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President Hu Jintao’s wife, Liu Yongqing is definitely more colourful than previous consorts of Chinese leaders. 

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US President George W Bush found that doors wouldn’t open for him at a conference in Beijing, China but he was fooling against a much more colourful background than Nixon and Carter.

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Colour is back among Chinese leaders!

Blogging Can Be Dangerous for Your Health

Is blogging harmful for you? 

Can you actually get killed for expressing your opinion in your blog?

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Blogging can be harmful, even fatal for you in some countries where many people get into trouble for criticizing governments or power elites.

Reporters without borders report that globally in 2008, 1 blogger was killed, 
59 bloggers were arrested, 45 were physically attacked, 1,740 websites were blocked, shut down or suspended. 

The General manager of Shuli Architectural Engineering, Wei Wenhua, in Hubei province of China was beaten to death by “chengguan” (municipal police officers) while filming with his mobile phone a clash with demonstrators in Tianmen (not in Beijing but in Hubei province) on 7 January 2008.



Governments getting Tougher on Internet Censorship


According to Reporters without Borders, 64 persons are currently imprisoned worldwide because their blogposts upset governments or power elites.

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37 countries practised online censorship in 2008. Good old China kept its reputation by censoring 93 websites but Syria beat them by censoring 162 websites and Iran took the bronze medal with 38 websites. 

• In China, 10 cyber-dissidents were arrested, 31 were physically attacked or threatened, and at least three were tried and convicted according to Reporters Without Borders. 
• In Iran, Reporters Without Borders reported 18 arrests, 31 physical attacks and 10 convictions. 
• Syria had 8 arrests and 3 convictions
• Egypt 6 arrests 
• Morocco 2 arrests and 2 convictions.

The military junta in Burma, is trying to enter the Guiness Book of Records for the longest prison sentences as punishment for blogging. Blogger and comedian Zarganar and the young cyber-dissident Nay Phone Latt were given incredibly long prison sentences. 59 years for Zarganar and 20 years for Nay Phone Latt. 

Egypt’s Kareem Amer’s four-year prison sentence for postings seen as anti-religious and insulting to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak might seem lenient in comparison.



Blog Censorship in different Countries

Oxford Analytica gives regular updates on the current global situation of blog censorship. The Press Freedom Index, another way to approach this issue, United States or even United Kingdom is way below Namibia and Hungary. 

Whatever reasons they give, in many countries the authorities try to restrict access to certain content, sites, authors and readers from interacting on certain themes. 

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The US military openly admits that they censors soldier’s blogs which mention experiences in wars like Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The number of Internet users in China grew by 42% to 300 million in January 2009. Every 1 in 4 Chinese have access to the Internet, and 90% of them broadband. So, people responsible for censorship in China have to work really hard.



Internet Censorship in China

Already in 2005 Microsoft officially admitted that China was censoring blogs for certain terms like ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’. According to Rebecca MacKinnon of the University of Hong Kong, there are basically two types of Internet censorship in China – those “inside the Great Firewall” and those “outside the Great Firewall” and the relationship between the blog manager or editor with the local State council is crucial to the degree of censorship experienced. The Chinese government has had the Golden Shield Project since 1998 to protect citizens from

• Pornography
• Anti-social opinions and activities
• Ideas, organizations and opinions which are a threat to national security
• Ideas, organizations and opinions which undermine the government’s policies on religion or are seen as subversive

If your blog or site has references to certain subjects like the Falung Gong, Freedom Movement in China, Tiananmen Square happenings etc and the Internet police behind the Great Firewall of China do not like the way this information is handled, your site might get banned in China.

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It really depends on who you ask in China or about China and their censorship. Here is what a Falung Gong practitioner (obviously not based in China) has to say about censorship in China. the name of the blog is Falunggongforever.


Test if Your Blog or Site is Banned in China

There are two sites where you can test if your blogs or sites are banned in China.

1. http://www.websitepulse.com/help/testtools.china-test.html
2. http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org/

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Yes, according to the greatwallofchina.org and Chinese readers, this blog Original Wavelength is blocked in China. Who knows whom I have annoyed and for writing what!


Does Anyone Want Blog Censorship?

It is not only the mighty Chinese government or the Iranian clerics who want censorship. In Canada, Manitoba's First Nation leaders want the public and government to clamp down on people who post racist remarks about aboriginals on media websites. 

A new survey reveals that most Americans believe bloggers should not be allowed to publish sensitive personal information about individuals. Web hosting company Hostway polled 2,500 Americans on blogging. 80% of respondents did not believe that bloggers should be allowed to publish home addresses and other personal information about private citizens. A further 72 % favoured censorship of personal information about celebrities, and 68%, information about elected or appointed government officials such as judges or mayors.

Significantly, more than one-third of these American respondents had never heard of blogs before participating in the survey, and only around 30% of participants had actually visited a blog themselves.

There are many sites spreading violent hate messages and dangerous propaganda in addition to sites, which aim to cheat or mislead people.

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Is the Right to Freedom of Speech a sacred right? 

Do you think any authority should be allowed to censor these hate blogs?