'Batman' star punched, stopped from visiting blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng

'Batman' star punched, stopped from visiting blind Chinese activist

DONGSHIGU VILLAGE, China (CNN) -- As Christian Bale approached an impromptu checkpoint leading to this tiny village in eastern China, four men blocking the narrow path started marching toward him in menacing unison.
"I am here to see Chen Guangcheng," the Hollywood actor said and I translated, with correspondent Stan Grant and cameraman Brad Olson next to us.
"Go away!" the plainclothes guards barked, pushing us back.
Amid the scuffling and yelling, dozens more guards in olive-green, military-style overcoats -- and two gray minivans -- emerged from the other side of the checkpoint, all coming toward us.
"Why can I not visit this free man?" Bale asked repeatedly, only to receive punches from guards aiming for his small camera as they tried to drag him away from the rest of us.
As we retreated, I recognized the ringleader -- the same burly man who had hurled rocks at the CNN team 10 months earlier to force us out of the same location.
A precarious scene ensued Thursday as one of the gray minivans chased our car at high speed on bumpy country roads for some 40 minutes.
When the dust settled, we counted a broken car, a damaged camera -- and a "Batman" star disappointed at -- but not shocked by -- his failure to see a personal hero.
"What I really wanted to do was to meet the man, shake his hand and say what an inspiration he is," Bale said.

Link
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/15/wo...html?hpt=hp_c1
Also
http://www.eonline.com/news/christia..._trying/281168
http://news.yahoo.com/christian-bale...145856366.html

He is helping China to promote film "The Flowers of War" and yet China don't allow him to visit Chen.

I read about this guy in wiki just now

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Guangcheng

Wow, such injustice was to him. China's justice system is still very unjust.

Take a step back, there would be a great plain and sky. Mr Bale should know better, the Chinese authority is not something you can play with. He should know the consequences. The authority told him to go away, why can't he leave? China is huge, there are lot of things for him to enjoy like tasty Chinese foods, lion dance, and all kinds of shows and places to visit. Why can't he mind his own business like 99.99%+ of other people who mind their own business when they visit China? Why did he have to touch a sensitive issue? China is not and will never be a free country, at least not in his life time. I am not defending the Chinese authority here and they indeed are axxhole but they are not something to play with.

This should be a warning to all Westerners. China has come a long way in the past 30 years. Its bright lights and big cities have wowed everyone; from basketball stars to Hollywood actresses, everyone wants to tap into the riches of China. Behind those lights and cities, China is still as it ever was: corrupt and oppressive. I hope Christian Bale speaks out about this and lets the world know about how wrong China still is.

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Originally Posted by Dirt

This should be a warning to all Westerners. China has come a long way in the past 30 years. Its bright lights and big cities have wowed everyone; from basketball stars to Hollywood actresses, everyone wants to tap into the riches of China. Behind those lights and cities, China is still as it ever was: corrupt and oppressive. I hope Christian Bale speaks out about this and lets the world know about how wrong China still is.

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Westerners have nothing to worry about. All they need is to mind their own business, things would be fined. However China treats her citizens is none of anyone else business.

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Originally Posted by Trien Chieu

Westerners have nothing to worry about. All they need is to mind their own business, things would be fined. However China treats her citizens is none of anyone else business.

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Then why do you care so much about China? You're Vietnamese. Mind Vietnam's business, this has nothing to do with you.

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Originally Posted by Dirt

Then why do you care so much about China? You're Vietnamese. Mind Vietnam's business, this has nothing to do with you.

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I am a proud Canadian citizen living in Canada even though I am Teochew Chinese was born in VietNam. As for China, I have never been there and don't plan to go there anytime soon. I don't care about China. I have every right to make a comment to express my opinion wherever and whenever I want in this forum. It's none of your business.

Failure of training on China's part. If I'm a big celebrity and wanted to make a scene by visiting someone in Guantanamo bay or perhaps Iraqi prison. You can bet US would have handled it better. From bogging them down with paperwork or just plain blocking without making a scene.

Said before and will say it again, China suck at PR, they really, really need to work on it. One can be polite will still pointing a tazer at you.

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Originally Posted by Dimeron

Failure of training on China's part. If I'm a big celebrity and wanted to make a scene by visiting someone in Guantanamo bay or perhaps Iraqi prison. You can bet US would have handled it better. From bogging them down with paperwork or just plain blocking without making a scene.

Said before and will say it again, China suck at PR, they really, really need to work on it. One can be polite will still pointing a tazer at you.

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China's PR is stupendous. Most Westerners seem to think that China has always been a peaceful nation that does not like to wage war (Peaceful Rise!). Something those of us who have studied Chinese history (and China's neighbors) know to be tacitly false.

It's all about priorities. The Communist Party just hasn't made it their priority to put a good spin on what they're doing to Chen along with the rampant corruption that was going on in Wukan. What the Commie Party want to spin positively usually works out for them. The PR for the 2008 Olympics was nothing short of masterful.

I have to ask though. Is there a good spin on Chen? I mean, the USA can spin Guantanamo Bay as positively as they want, but the fact is, there isn't anybody in the world that believes the spin. Could it be then that there are somethings that are "unspinnable"? Could it be that some things that governments do are just wrong and inexcusable no matter which government does it?

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Originally Posted by Trien Chieu

I am a proud Canadian citizen living in Canada even though I am Teochew Chinese was born in VietNam. As for China, I have never been there and don't plan to go there anytime soon. I don't care about China. I have every right to make a comment to express my opinion wherever and whenever I want in this forum. It's none of your business.

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Oh, okay. You're Vietnamese Canadian. My mistake.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/wo...guards.html?hp

The above article is from the NY Times. That Batman was roughed up for challenging commie rule is not surprising, but what caught my attention is that the article notes that some critics have criticized the film for "excessively demonizing" the Japanese.

That made me LOL and get pissed off at the same time. Some of the crazy PC police in the liberal camp make the whole liberal base look retarded. It's like saying Schindler's List demonized the Germans.

I know there's an anti-China sentiment in the West, but to say a realistic portrayal of a massacre demonizes a country (Japan, now a friend to the West) is pure hypocrisy.

I am no fan of commies but you just gotta be fair about this stuff.

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Originally Posted by jiang bao

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/wo...guards.html?hp

The above article is from the NY Times. That Batman was roughed up for challenging commie rule is not surprising, but what caught my attention is that the article notes that some critics have criticized the film for "excessively demonizing" the Japanese.

That made me LOL and get pissed off at the same time. Some of the crazy PC police in the liberal camp make the whole liberal base look retarded. It's like saying Schindler's List demonized the Germans.

I know there's an anti-China sentiment in the West, but to say a realistic portrayal of a massacre demonizes a country (Japan, now a friend to the West) is pure hypocrisy.

I am no fan of commies but you just gotta be fair about this stuff.

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The keyword in your own post is 'friend'. US and China are 'friends' too, except that they are 'friends' who smile and shake hands with each other while their other free hand holds a knife at the back.

I didn't pay much attention to this whole thing, but has the actual footage been released?

Would be very interesting to actually see the footage and judge how much "violence" actually happened.

Because lets face it, Western media is not exactly "fair and balanced" when it comes to China, and history has proven they will exaggerated and outright lie to make a story to demonize China. I still remember CNN using photos of Nepal police beating monks as Chinese police beating Tibetan monks.

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Originally Posted by Dimeron

I didn't pay much attention to this whole thing, but has the actual footage been released?

Would be very interesting to actually see the footage and judge how much "violence" actually happened.

Because lets face it, Western media is not exactly "fair and balanced" when it comes to China, and history has proven they will exaggerated and outright lie to make a story to demonize China. I still remember CNN using photos of Nepal police beating monks as Chinese police beating Tibetan monks.

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They lie and demonize to make money; you have to have a story that can draw people's interest and buy your paper or watch your station.

What stories does Xinhua and the People's Daily tell? And why do they tell it?

The media portrayal of the movie in the US is so retarded. Every article that mentions the movie has mentioned in one form or another that the movie is either politically-motivated or a propaganda film for the commies. Are they fricking serious? Was Schindler's list Jewish propaganda? From what I can tell from some revealed details of the film, it does show the involvements of Westerners in saving Chinese lives and not all portrayals of Jap soldiers and KMT soldiers are bad.

It's like if millions of chinks get killed, it's ok. Don't anyone dare to tell what happened because our Japanese friends are allowed to kill and rape whoever they want.