User talk:Ran/2005 (2)

Protected notice

Would you please add {{vprotected}} to Something Awful and remember to always add a notice when you protect a page? Thanks, Taco Deposit | Talk-o to Taco 17:29, Apr 4, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, no problem. Taco Deposit | Talk-o to Taco 18:32, Apr 4, 2005 (UTC)

Please come and vote!

Following the long discussion at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Chinese) regarding proper titling of ROC-/Taiwan-related topics, polls for each single case has now been started here. Please come and join the discussion, and cast your vote. Thanks. — Instantnood 06:16, Apr 6, 2005 (UTC)

Banqiao and Three Gorges maps

Hi Ran,

thank you for your message. You are most welcome to add a small inset to the Banqiao map. I had thought of doing this myself already, but was to lazy ...

Sorry about the mistake in spelling "Chongqing" on the Three Gorges map. I have made a new version with the correct spelling. Since you are an administrator, how should I handle the new version? Should I upload it as a new image or is there a way I can replace the old image and would that be the right thing to do? rm 07:09, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The death report of 26,000 in Banqiao Dam comes from a external link in the article, Flood and Draught in the History, Hydrology Department of Henan (Simplified Chinese) (http://www.hnsl.gov.cn/look0/article.php?L_Type=1&id=297)

Hi again, Ran,

I couldn't stay away from trying to add an overview inset to the Banqiao map. I have uploaded it already as a possible solution. However, if you would like to do something more beautiful, please feel free to replace it. rm 06:23, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Hi once more,

I am glad you like my map. I am using a set of programs called the "Generic Mapping Toolbox" (GMT) [[1]].

"China"/"PRC" vs. "mainland China" for page titles

Following the long discussion at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Chinese) regarding proper titling of Mainland China-related topics, polls for each single case has now been started here. Please come and join the discussion, and cast your vote. Thank you. — Instantnood 12:49, Apr 9, 2005 (UTC)

I need your help

Hello Ran. A request for arbitration has been filed against me at WP:RFAr by Snowspinner as the AMA advocate for jguk. What do you think I can do? — Instantnood 20:42, Apr 10, 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Chinese naming controversy

Dunno if you have noticed there's another discussion at Wikipedia:Chinese naming controversy, started by Uncle Ed. Do take a look. :-D — Instantnood 14:40, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)

province-level templates

Thanks. It was actually User:Colipon who started these, for instance Template:Shandong. Anyway, I just copied the idea and extended it. Thanks for finishing the remaining ones. -- Curps 23:48, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

hi, about india map and china map

你好，我知道你看得懂中文，就直接用中文好了，这样更能准确地表达出我的意思。关于印度和中国边界的问题，我想向您提几个意见。英文维基中的印度地图并没有将中国在中印边界东段的藏南地区（即印度成立的阿鲁纳恰尔邦大部分）标示出来，而是毫无保留得将其划归印度。另一方面，在西段的中国控制的阿克塞钦地区，却用虚线标示出这地方有领土争议，这样是否有违维基的中立原则？我看完全是偏袒印度一方，您认为如何？这样的问题在美国出版的地图里面都存在，还有其他版本的维基都使用美国CIA的地图，这样就违反了中立的原则，我看微软的百科全书在这方面就作得比维基好，我的英文不是很好，远不能达到您的水平，我希望您能帮助改变或者尽量改变这种不合理的情况。另外，我经常喜欢到中文维基上混，我的中文维基账号是User:apengu，欢迎骚扰！--icywind 06:06, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Help!

Well, the Nanjing Massacre has a revert battle and some tremendously messy talk page, started by one Wikipedian called Coolcat. As I'm not a sysop, I can't really do anything. This Coolcat thinks he/she is an arbitrator or something, but what he/she has done IMHO is to mess up an already very messy article. We need help there, probably from a sysop. Are you available? Mandel 16:22, Apr 22, 2005 (UTC)

maps

Hi Ran, I created an empty Guangdong map from a scan of a "real" map and then emptied out whatever disturbed me in there. I will slowly upload the locator maps for all Guangdong prefectures and disctricts. Maps for Gansu, Guangxi and Inner Mongolia are under preparation. I am not a specialist regarding this, so it takes me time. If you want to know how to do it properly, then please don't ask me :-) And the thing about the units and measurements - it's corrected already. -- Herr Klugbeisser 01:20, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Re: Tibet image

Mr. Ran,

I am sorry, but I forgot where I got it.

Thanks for finding the source. Would we be able to use it if I ask them for permission? Sorry about deleting your message.

--User:Hottentot

TW nation

There's a dispute between me and a couple users who want to label Taiwan a "nation". If you can, please take a look at Talk:Taiwan and weigh in...--Jiang 06:25, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Hi Ran.

شینجاڭ ئۇيغۇر ئاپتونوم رايونی (shinjang uyghur aptonom rayoni) is the official Uyghur name.

On a side note, do we have the official Yi name for any of the Yi autonomous areas, or any of the other native names for Chinese autonomous areas? -- User:Node ue

Standard Mandarin and Vernacular Chinese

Is Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) based on Vernacular Chinese, or the other way round? — Instantnood 16:18, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks Ran. So is it like Putonghua is based on the grammar, sentence structure, etc., of (written) vernacular Chinese, not the other way round? — Instantnood 17:20, Apr 29, 2005 (UTC)

What came up in my mind is like.. which is a derivative of which.. :-D I suppose vernacular Chinese came from classical Chinese, with elements of the spoken variants, predominantly the northern ones, as well as some influence from western languages on syntax and sentence structure, and Japanese on vocabularies. Standard Mandarin is based on Beijing dialect for pronunciation, and vernacular Chinese for grammar and vocabularies. — Instantnood 18:28, May 1, 2005 (UTC)

Vandalism Policy

Hey Ran

Perhaps you should re-read this paragraph. Do not impose your deletions on anymore newbies. That will discourage people from contributing to this site, especially vital for non-Chinese speakers learning about Chinese culture. If you like dominating viewpoints, fine, but you are welcome to write and publish your own book or even your own website. Thank you. Good luck.

NPOV violations The neutral point of view is a difficult policy for many of us to understand, and even Wikipedia veterans occasionally accidentally introduce material which is non-ideal from an NPOV perspective. Indeed, we are all blinded by our beliefs to a greater or lesser extent.

While regrettable, this is not vandalism

. See also: NPOV dispute.

Singapore / Chongqing

Hi Ran, I noticed that your blocks violates many of the wikipedia policies. According to Wikipedia policies, a user is not supposed to block another user's right to contribute new facts and POV are supposed to be signaled to a committee for a NEUTRALITY dispute. And vandalism requires votes. I have therefore notified the Board of Administrators about this. Please refrain from blocking new users, also known as newbies, and refrain from posting on the Singapore page and please keep your comments to the Chongqing page. Your co-operation in this serious violation issue is highly appreciated, failing which legal action shall be taken.

map

Hi, no problem, I can translate the map, but it would be cool if you had some version of the map which is easier to edit (of course, I could remove all the text and put in the German, but I think the result wouldn't look as good). -- Herr Klugbeisser 14:14, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

As I don't have adobe illustrator (I prefer GIMP), I could translate you the English text and then you could create a new German-language file. 怎么样？ -- Herr Klugbeisser 01:17, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

OK, give me some time, I have to work something now and the next ten days I will be offline. I will check out some other languages too. -- Herr Klugbeisser 01:38, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

India map

I've tried to talk to Amit in his talk page. Let us discuss it on Monday. -- Sundar (talk · contribs) 06:48, Apr 30, 2005 (UTC)

Nanyang

Hello Ran. Would you be interested to join the discussions at talk:Nanyang (geographical region)#Common usage and user talk:Huaiwei#Nanyang, and perhaps to mediate? Thanks in advance. :-D — Instantnood 16:20, May 1, 2005 (UTC)

Un-POVing

Ran,

Thanks for un-POVing my edits. I guess I tend to be a little biased sometimes.

--User:Hottentot

Welcome

Thanks for the welcome, Ran! It's been a while since I've talked to you...how are things? --Whimemsz 03:01, May 3, 2005 (UTC)

I'm fine. I've stopped going to the ZBB or the channel, but I still conlang, and I'm happy. In any case, you're welcome for reverting the vandalism. --Whimemsz 02:16, May 6, 2005 (UTC)

Japanese wikibook

Hey,

For some reason the Japanese wikibook mailing list disappeared. If you're still interested in working on the Japanese wikibook please sign up for the new Japanese wikibook mailing list. Thanks. - sik0fewl 02:18, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

Amitroy

Go ahead and put it on RfC. I don't know what else to do. -- sundar (talk · contribs) 06:19, May 5, 2005 (UTC)

Addition of Nichiren Shu to the article on Nichiren Buddhism

Hi.

Your addition of Nichiren-shū (日蓮宗) to the article on Nichiren Buddhism is appreciated, but it is not quite correct. Nichiren Buddhism in Japanese is indeed often called 日蓮宗 Nichiren-shū, and it is also known as 法華宗 Hokke-shū or 日蓮系諸宗派 Nichiren-kei sho shūha. However, only the last of these is unambiguous as 日蓮宗 Nichiren Shū usually refers to the Minobu school based at Kuonji, whereas Hokke-shū can also refer to two specific Nichiren schools or include Tendai schools. If you think the addition of a Japanese term is appropriate, could you change it to 日蓮系諸宗派 Nichiren-kei sho shūha; or even 日蓮の仏教 Nichiren no Bukkyō or 日蓮の思想 Nichiren no shisō? (Or would you mind if I did it?)

Best regards, Jim_Lockhart 05:04, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

Ran, Thanks for the change :). Hope to be able to collaborate with you moving forward, too. Jim_Lockhart 04:58, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Links in See also

Rather than putting links into the See Also list, how about incorporating links to new articles within existing articles? This way all sides of an issue can be explored thoroughly. -- ran (talk) 22:09, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

Hi ran, it is a good point. I think they could go in both parts. The article to explore the issues but also it is helpful to have a list of related links at the bottom. Thanks for the suggestion.

NPOV

I saw your message. I am not biased for Taiwan. I was trying to include more Taiwan references but you removed them.--160.39.195.91 03:38, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

Knee Jerk Reaction To my Edits on China

What's the deal with that? Have you ever looked at non-English Wiki's? Several delimit Republic of China from 1912-1949 and then have one article for Taiwan. That's strong evidence that many people think that Republic of China, even if you call the old period and the new period on Taiwan the same thing, has some kind of separation. It changed a lot when it went to Taiwan. All I did was add some dates for what people will probably be looking for.
Also check out the article on the origin of the word China as well as Oxford English Dictionary if you have access to it. THAT'S what I'm talking about. Phonological changes across time are a tricky thing, and you can't just say because it sounds the same that it's definitive evidence. I really don't like your attitude, especially since it shows that you did not look up to see if I was wrong or not.--160.39.195.91 01:56, 10 May 2005 (UTC)
A few more points. Why did you just delete the sentence about local identities? The thing is, you are perfectly aware, as a speaker of Chinese that many people will identify with being from Beijing or from Shanghai or what not. Look at the Beijing article and look at the stereotypes. You deleted that under the reason "oh you have too many examples of CHinese dialects written down". What the hell is that?
And then your edit changing Politics of Imperial China to Politics of ancient China. What in the world? There isn't even an article on that! I really think you picked up some bias against me, and I'm not sure why.--160.39.195.91 02:02, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

India map

I'm back, albeit a little late :D. Do you still need some clarifications from my end? I've read the discussions on the links you gave me. I support your move to delete the map of India.  =Nichalp (talk · contribs)= 04:10, May 10, 2005 (UTC)

Maps & cities

Ran,

in the meantime, someone else has translated the map I promised you to translate (I don't know whether or not with your co-operation). I will check out some other languages when my time budget is a bit more generous. I have also added my comments in WikiProject Chinese cities, I hope it helps a bit. -- Herr Klugbeisser 01:36, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

my proposal

I just want to thank you for your eloquent and thoughtful comments — both when you were opposed and after you changed your mind – concerningmy proposal. Slrubenstein | Talk 19:30, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

YOu are welcome. But you should never apologize for having taken some time to think, for engaging in a dialogue, and for having an open mind. All you have done is to express some important virtues, in my opinion. Slrubenstein | Talk 19:50, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

my proposal

Hi,

I just announced I am stepping away from the proposal discussion for several days. I know I have polarized the discussion, which I didn't want to do. If you are willing, I hope you will visit the page periodically and do whatever you can or think is appropriate to facilitate discussion between both sides.

Thanks

Steve

Border changes

You mentioned about border changes at Qinghai-Gansu border and at Amur-Ussuri delta. Don't waste the effort and make them new maps for the Qinghai, Gansu and Heilongjiang articles. :-D — Instantnood 08:13, May 18, 2005 (UTC)

Actually I meant an additional image, perhaps for the history section, to show the border changes. :-D — Instantnood 15:24, May 18, 2005 (UTC)

Once more, with copyedit

La République Populaire de Chine et la République de Chine revendiquent à la fois les Îles Paracels et Spratlys, qui n'apparaissent pas sur cette carte.
La RPC contrôle les Paracels, que revendique aussi le Viêt-nam.
Les Spratlys sont disputées parmi plusieurs pays voisins.

Ce "à la fois" ne fonctionne pas. Ces archipels sont deux objects, pas des agents ou des sujets. revendiquent toutes deux les Îles Paracels et Spratlys.

"Par" devrait être employé à la place de "parmi".

Circeus 12:55, May 18, 2005 (UTC)

Tibetan people

Could you come and explain your recent edits on Talk:Tibetan people? It's not clear why you deleted a copuple of sentences — the edit summary didn't really justify the removals. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 10:07, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

PRC autonomous regions toponomastica

Hi Ran,

I hope you'll recall our exchange regarding the almost complete lack of the local (ie, minority) names of autonomous regions and of municipalities, counties, etc. within these regions.

I was thinking that this is rather ridiculous that we don't have such important information.

It should be easy to obtain of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (except for cities started by Chinese settlers which generally have Chinese names even in Uyghur) and perhaps Xizang Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Names for regions themselves and for capital or major cities should be doable for Inner Mongolia, Manchuria (which as you may know isn't really spoken by many people in Manchuria anymore, although there is apparently bilingual signage), some Yi areas, and some Zhuang areas.

Names of Taiwanese places in aboriginal languages should not be difficult to find, and some mainland minorities should be easy to contact to ask questions.

Node 04:52, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

Rape of Nanking Edit

Aloha Ran,

I removed the 'BabyOnTracks' image due to the fact that the image actually occurred in Shanghai in August of 1937. The book I use is The Rape of Nanking: An Undeniable History in Photographs if you're interested. -- Xanadu 02:28, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Gando/Gando Convention

Hi Ran,

I've investigated more about the Jiandao/Gando region and found some journal articles about the issue, including one that details the origin of the Tumen river dispute. There's obviously a lot of information to digest and incorporate. I've posted the stuff here. Honestly I was very tempted to just delete all the previous edits and chalk it up as nationalistic nonsense. That's why I'd rather have help in collaborating to do some NPOV writing. :-) --Yuje 12:54, May 30, 2005 (UTC)

Hi again, Ran

I finally finished a major rewrite of the Gando page, incorporating the information from the sources I provided. This might be of interest to you. --Yuje July 9, 2005 09:57 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Naming conventions (provinces)

maybe you like to have a look at Wikipedia:Naming conventions (provinces) Tobias Conradi (Talk) 15:00, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for your support vote on my adminship, even though I have withdrawn candidacy. — Chameleon 19:09, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Mandarin

Hi,

I put a note onto the talk page for that article. If the article is about the government-ordained language of instruction, you get one kind of answer. If the article is about what used to be called "guan1 hua4," then you get another kind of answer. Since we are trying to educate people who may well have no basis for understanding all the different things that are going on, getting clear on the phenomenon we are trying to describe and then finding a word or words that most clearly encompass that meaning is a really important thing to do. P0M 03:35, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Chaoyang

Ran,

as my best friend Sarcelles has continued his activities to push Laogai-articles into the English Wikipedia, I have proposed one of his masterpieces for deletion, maybe you want to add your comment(s) if you have time. -- Herr Klugbeisser 11:04, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Hi Ran,

I've noticed that our friend Sarcelles has been going around posting sentence fragments everywhere about "laogai" instead of just focusing on one article that addresses the matter. And yes I've noticed that his article stubs are not NPOV at all. Also, I've noticed his "population data" coming from the "World Christian Encyclopedia" can not be backed up. I'm quite tempted to remove some of his data until he can cite his sources. -- Abstrakt - June 23, 2005

Hi Ran,

Thanks for the followup, I haven't really been deleting any lines from the articles Sarcelles wrote except maybe editting poorly worded sentence fragments in a couple of articles and leaving the {{china-geo-stub}} tag on them. -- Abstrakt - June 23, 2005

Our friend Sarcelles is definitely trying to push a non neutral point of view here. Every article he has written have been for the most part a way for him to push issues about prisons and "laogais". Also I do not see the relevance in listing down the percentages of Christians in towns that have no religious significance. If we are retain a neutral point of view, are we to also list the religious demographics of other religions as well? I suggest deleting these Christian demographic percentages in order to retain a neutral point of view. Also there is no way to really verify these percentages since sources are not cited. -- Abstrakt - June 23, 2005

"K" vs "J"

Hi ran sorry for bringing up the old topic again. I came across the discussion page of Nanking massacre today and I just wanted to say my opinion on the pronounciation of "Nanking" and "Nanjing". As far as I know, "k" is not the ancient pronunciation of "j" in standard chinese speaking, and I do not believe there was a pronunciation transition from "k" to "j" ever during the Chinese history, at least in the northern part of China (for northern I mean the area northern of yangtze river).

and if there had ever been a transition in the official (or standard) pronunciation of Chinese, some of the old traits would have been left over in regional dialects, as manifested by the "fifth tone" (Ze sheng) in many dialects. however as a native speaker of Chinese (I grew up in Nanjing btw), none of the dialects from North China and Jiangnan area I've heard of pronounces "j" in Nanjing as "k". Therefore I do think the spelling of "nanking", "peking" or "kirin" are due certain confusion in the early romantization by different western countries, as cantonese and mandarin were both widely used in dealing with foreigners by Chinese. Colinoncayuga 04:09, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Hi thank you for your reply. My grandma is Shangdongnese but she still pronounces the "j" in Nanjing as it is. Could you please give me a few examples that j is pronounced as k?

Also, in ancient chinese literature where words are used to simulate sounds of animals, "j" makes more sense than "k". for example, in Mulan Ci, a northern China folklore poem, it uses "jiji" as the sound of sowing machine. If it was pronounced as "kiki" then it hardly imitated the actual sound. Same theory applies to the sound of chickens, which is also often represented by "jiji". actually i'm very interested in knowing if "j" was pronounced "k" so thanks again for your reply.Colinoncayuga 20:22, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thank you very much. That was indeed very professional and enlightening explanation. Colinoncayuga 21:14, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Got a microphone?

Hi there.

If you look at User:Chameleon/Uploads#Spoken_by_me you'll see that I've been uploading a few examples of Mandarin pronunciation. However, I'm not sure my accent is so hot. I'd like a native speaker to redo the recordings at some point. Do you think you could help? — Chameleon 20:40, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Talk:Tibet

Ran,

Please let me know what you think and if you agree on my comment on Talk:Tibet. If you do, would you be able to help me in changing User:Nathan Hill's edits so that it has both methods of spelling with Wylie not as the default? ---User:Hottentot

Request for Russian translation of the China map

Hi!

I am currently doing some work on the China article in Russian Wiki, and I saw your offer of a foreign-language version of the map. Can you do it for me? Below find the text in Russian (starting from the left upper portion of your map, then going down to the bottom, and from there to the right and upward).

I also attach a table I made of the names of provinces in Russian, English and Chinese, and the names of administrative centers in Russian and English.

Китайская Народная Республика (КНР)

Административное деление и территориальные споры

Аксай-Чин – район, на который претендует Индия.

КНР претендует на большую часть индийского штата Аруначал Прадеш.

КНР и Республика Китай претендуют на Парасельские острова и острова Спратли, которые не показаны на этой карте. КНР контролирует Парасельские острова (на которые также претендует Вьетнам), в то время как острова Спратли являются предметом территориального спора между несколькими государствами региона.

Тайвань, несколько островов у побережья провинции Фуцзян, и острова Пратас, на которые претендует КНР, находятся под административным управлением Республики Китай.

Острова Сенкаку, на которые претендуют КНР и Республика Китай, находятся под административным управлением Японии.

Провинция

Автономный район

Город

Специальный административный район

Аньхой Anhui 安徽 Хэфэй Hefei

Фуцзянь Fujian 福建 Фучжоу Fuzhou

Ганьсу Gansu 甘肃 Ланьчжоу Lanzhou

Гуандун Guangdong 广东 Гуанчжоу Guangzhou

Гуйчжоу Guizhou 贵州 Гуйян Guiyang

Хайнань Hainan 海南 Хайкоу Haikou

Хэбэй Hebei 河北 Шицзячжуан Shijiazhuang

Хэйлунцзян Heilongjiang 黑龙江 Харбин Harbin

Хэнань Henan 河南 Чжэнчжоу Zhengzhou

Хубэй Hubei 湖北 Ухань Wuhan

Хунань Hunan 湖南 Чанша Changsha

Цзянсу Jiangsu 江苏 Нанкин Nanjing

Цзянси Jiangxi 江西 Наньчан Nanchang

Цзилинь Jilin 吉林 Чанчунь Changchun

Ляонин Liaoning 辽宁 Шэньян Shenyang

Цинхай Qinghai 青海 Синин Xining

Шаньси Shaanxi 陕西 Тайюань Taiyuan

Шаньдун Shandong 山东 Цзинань Jinan

Шэньси Shanxi 山西 Сиань Xi’an

Сычуань Sichuan 四川 Чэнду Chengdu

Юньнань Yunnan 云南 Куньмин Kunming

Чжэцзян Zhejiang 浙江 Ханчжоу Hangzhou

Гуанси-Чжуанский Guangxi 广西 Наньнин Nanning

Внутренняя Монголия Inner Mongolia 内蒙古 Хух-Хото Hohhot

Нинся-Хуэйский Ningxia 宁夏 Иньчуань Yinchuan

Синцзян-Уйгурский Xinjiang 新疆 Урумчи Urumqi

Тибетский Tibet 西藏 Лхаса Lhasa

Пекин Beijing 北京

Чунцин Chongqing 重庆

Шанхай Shanghai 上海

Тяньцзинь Tianjin 天津

Гонконг (Сянган) Hong Kong (Xianggang) 香港

Макао (Аомынь) Macau (Àomén) 澳门

Best regards, Wulfson

Hi, Ran!

That was really superb!

Now for the few things you asked me about.

First, I am sorry but there is a slight correction I would like you to do – I just found the alternate Russian spelling for the Senkaku Islands, so the more complete version of the Russian text should be,

• Острова Сенкаку (Дяоюйдао), на которые претендуют КНР и Республика Китай, находятся под административным управлением Японии.

1. Please help me translate the last part at the bottom left of the map.. (Administered by... claimed by..., etc.)

It is (from top to bottom):

• Контролируется КНР, территориальные претензии со стороны Индии
• Контролируется Индией, территориальные претензии со стороны КНР
• Контролируется Республикой Китай, территориальные претензии со стороны КНР
• Контролируется Японией, территориальные претензии со стороны КНР

1. I've added "A. P." (autonomous region) to the label for each autonomous region…

It is O.K., yet in three of the four cases (i.e. except Inner Mongolia) it should follow the specific name of the region – then it would exactly match the Grammar rules.

1. About municipalities, I think that since "gorod" means simply "city", perhaps a more precise term should be used. The Китай article uses two different translations, "муниципальных образования" and "Города центрального подчинения"... can you tell me which one is correct? Also, please tell me in singular form, because I don't know how to convert Russian plurals back into singular. (-_-)

As for "Города центрального подчинения", I actually borrowed it from Chinese Russian-language websites, such as:

• http://russian.xinhuanet.com/ly_chq.htm
• http://www.allchina.ru/rus/articles/1/1817_1.php
• http://russian.people.com.cn/200401/07/rus20040107_86581.html,

etc. I believe we might just as well use it. In Russia, we have a similar term, "Города федерального подчинения", applied to Moscow and St.Petersburg – it means that these cities are in all respects equal to the other 87 Russian Federation subjects (regions (oblast), territories (krai), autonomous republics, autonomous region, autonomous districts) and do not form part of any other administrative unit.

The Sg for it will be "Город центрального подчинения".

As for the "муниципальных образования", I think I will correct it in the text, because this term is a broader one, and can be applied to whatever municipal unit at all.

Once again thank you for your help. It’s been great talking to you.

Best regards, Wulfson

Hi!

How about this one (from top to bottom):

• Под управлением КНР (оспаривается Индией)
• Под управлением Индии (оспаривается КНР)
• Под управлением Республики Китай (оспаривается КНР)
• Под управлением Японии (оспаривается КНР)

If still too long, call me. Will try and give it another brush.

Best regards, Wulfson

Thanks, once again!

Wulfson

Lhasa

Before today, I never heard of Puno. Why don't you check out the highest capitals wherever you found the Puno info?

Lapsed Pacifist 00:01, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I took your advice and checked out Tibet#Status. The first line reads "While there is little dispute that Tibet was once an independent country...". What's the problem?

Lapsed Pacifist 00:38, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'm familiar with Wikipedia's policy on NPOV. You have admitted the PRC census was skewed. Why present it as fact?

Lapsed Pacifist 18:38, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Before the invasion, Tibet had a fully functioning government, and was in full control of its defence and foreign affairs. It was recognised as such by Nepal, India and the United Kingdom. Whatever your personal opinions on the merits of the Tibetan theocracy, it was for all intents and purposes an independent country.

Lapsed Pacifist 19:11, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If you have no opinion on the matter, why edit it out? Referring to an obscure 14th century treaty is pedantic at best. I believe it gives a good impression of how many Tibetans (including those who were around at the time) view their country pre-1950.

Lapsed Pacifist 20:25, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Free Tibet/Temp

Ran,

I was wondering if you could help me out with Free Tibet/Temp. It is in some serious need of help. Thanks. We can't edit the regular aticle for now because of copyright problems. ---User:Hottentot

Tibetan passport of Tsepon Shakabpa

Ran,

About 13 years ago the first Tibetan passport was lost from an eastern Indian hill station. Last year, it was recovered in a junk shop in Nepal. This passport shows that the countries of India, the UK the USA, Italy, Switzerland and France all issued visas to Tsepon Shakabpa. This is more proof that Tibet was an independent country. See the articles here, here, and here. Also to see the actual passport, go here. If Tibet was part of China before 1950, why would these countries issue visas to this man? ---User:Hottentot

Thanks for all the info! ---User:Hottentot

PRC Ethnic Policies

"Deceitful" was a bit too strong, I thought. Some of your additions were open to misrepresentation.

Lapsed Pacifist 01:19, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Issues around mainland China and Republic of China

Thanks so much for your help during the discussion on naming conventions on China-related issues. The ArbCom case that I was involved in was closed, and it's not likely it would be considered to be reopened on technical grounds. (It was closed when there were four support and one oppose vote, i.e. less than the required four net support votes.) After all these, I'd like to know your opinion how on mainland China- and Republic of China-related issues should be dealt with, and how the naming conventions can be implemented and enforced. — Instantnood 15:12, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

Agree we have to lay low. But it's rather unavoidable that some of the edits will have something to deal with them, we cannot stay away from it, and the problem will come again sooner or later. We'd better get a good time to have a nice and rational discussion over it, rather than having the same lengthy but nonconstructive ones.. I don't have much idea in mind how this can be done and what should be done, and I'd love to hear your opinion. :-D — Instantnood 19:02, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

Category:Economy of mainland China is nominated to CFD by SchmuckyTheCat, who has also requested to reopen the ArbCom case, citing evidence which is not entirely true. On the other hand, Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Chinese)#Political NPOV has been tagged with {{NPOV-section}} for a long time, despite the discussion has not been continued on the talk page. In my opinion the talk page would be a nice place to start with to work towards minimising POVs and removing the tag, and ultimately solving the months-long dispute. — Instantnood 20:44, Jun 24, 2005 (UTC)

User:SchmuckyTheCat requested to reopen the ArbCom case, and was accepted. Please free feel to submit a statement if you wish to. :-) — Instantnood July 1, 2005 16:29 (UTC)

About may 2005 mainland China and Taiwan reunification

I write some words about reunification fo RC and PRC as signed by 2 (guomintang and people first party) of the 3 parties of Taiwan Gvt. You deleteted it without comment, for why??? There is no mention about this, as it can see in every mainland and taiwan newspapers since one month. I see on chinese televion the kuomingtang party chief signing the treaty and saying again, china is one country. Japan and united states don't like it, but that's a fact... 82.225.234.108 13:34, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Russian Far East

Hi, Ran!

I removed the merge notices from both the Far Eastern Federal District and Russian Far East articles (it was actully me who split them in two in the first place some time ago). Why it is true that both terms apply to the same territory, the first, however, is a unit of administrative division, and the second a historio-geographic term. Russian Far East will always stay the same, while the Federal District can be changed any day or abolished all together. The difference here is approximately the same as between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Kamchatka Oblast.

Please let me know if you have questions. Thanks.—Ëzhiki (erinaceus amurensis) 13:23, Jun 22, 2005 (UTC)

Ulster

I noticed your interest in Irish politics. Feel free to join an interesting discussion at Talk: Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland.

Lapsed Pacifist 00:17, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Nanking Massacre

Hi ran. I have a longstanding argument with Flowerofchivalry (whom you directed to the page) concerning the removal of several photos in the Nanking Massacre talk page. I'm trying to get opinions on the matter. Do let me know what you think. Thanks, Mandel 09:30, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

Iris Chang also has some trouble as well. Mandel 03:12, Jun 24, 2005 (UTC)

Hello ran, I've submitted a RfC on User:Flowerofchivalry, please take a look at it, any comment would be appreciated. Thanks. -Hmib 12:00, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Edits made by User:Yuje

Ran,

I was wondering if the edits made by User:Yuje on Tibet are correct. Thanks. ---User:Hottentot

Paiwan

Ran,

Since I don't know Chinese, I was wondering if you would be able to help me out: is this article about the Paiwan people or the Paiwan language? Thanks. --User:Hottentot

Tibet Map

Hey Ran,

The new map looks great, but I have a question:

Was the area that I circled in pink ever part of Tibet? I think that Historic Tibet was on most of the Tibetan Plateau, so what about this area? --Hottentot

Ok, thanks. --Hottentot

our good friend sarcelles

Hi Ran, as you know our friend Sarcelles is still putting up poorly worded stubs on Chinese cities about prisons and labor camps. I was a little bored and decided to google some of the cities he has written stubs on. Well what a surprise, every single one of the cities I searched on google turned up on www.clearwisdom.net, which is a site promoting Falun Gong. He is clearly here to promote a non neutral point of view and a point favoring his own views. Just thought you should know. --Abstrakt Jun 29 2005