I doubt this post is going to provoke quite the same level of coverage, debate and entertaining abuse (actually maybe the latter will be constant) as the previous one but anyway …
The story below landed on my desk at a particularly busy time this week. I glanced at it, giggled at what I considered to be its utter irrelevance and put it at the bottom of the pile with the intention of writing a rejection note on it at the end of my shift. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about it and it was released in the early hours by an impatient editor without being edited.
HOHHOT, April 17 (Xinhua) - Seventeen chefs from the Republic of Mongolia have wrapped up their 15-day training in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China on Monday.
The selected chefs from the South-Gobi Aymag who arrived at the Urad Rear Banner on April 1 were sent to four restaurants, said Qegeg Delger, chairman of the South-Gobi branch of the Mongolian Chef Association.
They learnt to cook more than 20 hot dishes, 30 cold dishes and 20 snacks made of wheat.
Miao Xi, a chef with the Dianli Hotel who had exchanges with four female Mongolian chefs was quite impressed by their diligence. “They took notes from time to time of the ingredients and procedure,” he said.
The Mongolian chefs also taught their counterparts in the Urad Rear Banner to cook 20 cold dishes and 20 hot dishes and soups. Enditem.
It was with sheer horror that I saw its presence on the database - probably the most woeful attempt to laud China-Mongolia relations I have ever seen. Still, I’m sure the reporter from the Inner Mongolian bureau got a tasty yak out of it.
The following day, I pointed it out to the first editor that came into my office fully expecting him to laugh and cry. Unfortunately, the editor in question wasn’t in a good mood. He had taken exception to a story I had polished the night before about Ablikim Abdiriyim, son of Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, being sentenced to nine years in prison. He didn’t appreciate my efforts to try and make it resemble some kind of news story by adding quotation marks around certain phrases and “a document released by the Urumqi court said …”. Wouldn’t want anyone thinking it was an open trial. So, he read the chef exclusive with a stony face and said, “Of course it is relevant. The Mongolian News Agency would be interested.”
“Even if I was a Mongolian chef with a penchant for wheat snacks, I wouldn’t be interested,” I replied churlishly.
My subsequent glance at the Mongolian English-language press prompted me to curse my own arrogance. Although, the story in question was nowhere to be seen, there was this snippet from Montsame, the Mongolian state news agency, previewing the chefs’ visit under the headline ”Cooks to leave for China”.
Ulaanbaatar, /MONTSAME/. Twenty cooks of Omnogobi aimag will improve their professional qualifications by being involved in courses in China. The training will be conducted for 20 days in the Bayannuur city of Inner Mongolia, China within the scope of the “Year for Great Construction and Increase of Vacancies”. The above cooks will study methods to prepare various meals of foreign countries. This year, vacancies are being created in the culinary field in all soums of the aimag. B. Bolortuya.
Shame on me for not looking at the wider picture in terms of Xinhua subscribers. And shame on Xinhua for depriving Montsame of the scoop of the week with such an embarrassing effort.
Loopy Lou | 21-Apr-07 at 10:49 pm | Permalink
That’s the problem with you O’Brien, you have no respect for food. You and your western colleagues won’t be content until we have a McDonalds on every street corner, and a sodastream in every room - I abhor your ideology-less existence. Where is your moral compass?
FOOD IS RELEVANT, AND YOU O’BRIEN, YOU MAY POLISH OUR FOREIGN NEWS OUTPUT, BUT YOU WILL NEVER TAKE OUR WHEATY SNACKS!!!!!!!!!
Coree T. | 21-Apr-07 at 10:53 pm | Permalink
Um, I could be alone, but this is news that actually interests me… I’ve now a craving for some Mongolian BBQ…
Ben Ross | 23-Apr-07 at 6:53 pm | Permalink
This isn’t directly related to your post, but do you have any idea why Xinhua always ends their articles with Enditem? Is this some editing note that somehow never gets cut out before the article reaches the website? Seems a little ridiculous to have it at the end of every article, but maybe there’s a reason. Any ideas? My the way, rock on Mongolian chefs!
Jim | 25-Apr-07 at 4:42 am | Permalink
What’s your policy with Mongolian names and similar, Chris?
When I’m translating, I waste hours trying to find correct international standard romanisations of non-Han language place and person names.
Every little helps when legitimising minority traditions at risk from overweening chauvinism, I say, and chipping away at the notion that the state here properly represents these people and cultures.
Have recently been reading an internal party monograph by a retired Mongolian Marxist propagandist who blows large holes in the application of the nationalities self-governance policy from the point of view of a life-long Party loyalist.
Chris O'Brien | 27-Apr-07 at 12:06 pm | Permalink
Ben, delighted you asked that question! For the first few days of my new job as Xinhua polisher I deleted it, thinking “Enditem” was some kind of internal editing tool. My boss came in after the third day in utter confusion and asked why I insisted on deleting it. I told him I thought it looked very odd and they could at least separate the two words. He giggled and said it was “Xinhua style”. At such an early stage, I didn’t argue and I have left “Enditem” at the bottom of every story ever since. Of course, it became normal to me very quickly and I forgot how absurd it looked on the website (which is in fact completely separate to my department - and often chooses not to run stories deemed too critical). So thank you for bringing it to my attention again. I asked my boss why “Enditem” is such an entrenched part of Xinhua’s work and he said he had no idea, it is “Xinhua style”. I asked another editor and he said, “I’ve always wondered why it is there as well”. I might bring it up at the next editorial meeting and start a full-on leaflet campaign to rid Xinhua of Enditem. I will let you know if it succeeds!
Chris O'Brien | 27-Apr-07 at 12:15 pm | Permalink
Jim, I’m afraid I have no Mongolian name policy whatsoever. I can’t say I see Mongolian names that often and, to be honest, I just accept the romanised translations put in front of me. Next time, I’ll ask the translator how he/she chose the particular translation.
I have to say one of my priorities when editing Xinhua stories is to prevent any bullshit being released about how well ethnic minority groups are treated in China. A story I received the other day talked of 400,000 herdsmen in Xinjiang being given new jobs in order to protect the grasslands. But from the story, and the subsequent conversation with the translator, it became clear that 100,000 herdsmen in Xinjiang are to be kicked off their land each year for the next four years and left to go and hunt out work in the cities. The story seems to have disappeared so I will follow that up after the May holiday and make sure it is released.