posted 02-02-2000 03:23 AM               

"The tall poppy gets chopped down" is a proverb you hear in the Far East. It is an admonition of sorts to not make waves, to not stand out, to go about your business quietly, to just fit in.

Here at sohodojo, we support and celebrate Tall Poppies.

posted 02-02-2000 03:25 AM               

Wheelchair-bound engineer labelled 'damaged and diseased' fights back and wins China's Miss Internet contest.

SHANGHAI -- When government organizers came up with the idea for China's first "Miss Internet" contest, they had a definite vision in mind. "Ms I-net" would be smart and shapely; beautiful wrapping over a computer brain package.

Over 85% of the 4.5 million Internet users in China are men. Miss Internet was to be THE TV spokesperson to get more Chinese women online.

So, when wheel-chair bound cancer patient, Fanhong Chen, 24, sailed through the qualifying rounds to win at her province level, worried officials told her she could attend the contest, but not as a contestant.

"How could you possibly try to compare yourself with normal people?" officials demanded, you're "damaged and diseased."

Angry and humiliated, Chen wrote an impassioned statement and posted it on her website. A newspaper in a nearby city picked up the essay and ran it. Dozens of newspaper stories and TV news clips followed.

E-mail poured into her website -- more than 1,000 hits per day.

Within a week, the organizers issued an apology and invited Ms Chen back into the competition.

And, in December, she won over 154 other provincial winners on her ability to surf the Net and find information on auto repair shops, cafes and tennis courts in Shanghai -- all in five minutes. A clear winner.

In the end, a panel of 10 judges had no choice but to declare Fanhong Chen "Miss Internet."

Your strength to stand tall to the Miss Internet contest organizers is a testament to your Individual Spirit and to the Power of the Internet. Your story inspired us to create the 'Tall Poppy' Award at Sohodojo.

Congratulations, Fanhong Chen, you are the inspiration for and the first recipient of the Sohodojo Tall Poppy Award!

Visit her website. We love the Green Worm and the many family photos.

posted 02-11-2000 01:37 AM               

If you don't have them already, you will probably be prompted to load Chinese fonts when you first visit Fanhong's site. Even if you don't read Chinese, go ahead and make your browser Chinese-language-friendly. Then, when you load Fanhong's Guestbook and it cranks and cranks and Fanhong's guests' messages pour in, think about how amazing the Internet is.

Our English language notes are few and far between there between another human language that is so beautiful but so nearly alien-looking. And there your browser is working away displaying mixed language bulletin board designed and run by a fearless young woman in Shanghai! She's amazing. And her tool to self-realization, the Internet, is amazing.

It was only twenty-odd years ago that I remember what a BIG DEAL it was to get an 80-column card and a Paymar chip for your Apple computer so it could show a whole line of text and do lower case characters! Why souped up like that, your home computer could do some serious word processing! Yea, right, if you didn't go deaf from the daisy wheel impact printer! Twenty-off years ago.

Now, here we sit in a wired world where Fanhong is an e-mail and a URL away. People touching people through space and across cultures. Finding shared space. Rock on, Fanhong, you Little Web Worm* you, you are a genuine Tall Poppy!

* Web worms are web surfers in China!