Leica to release limited edition camera for People's Republic of China 60th anniversary

Boing Boing reader Linda Constant writes,

Some pretty surprising and offensive news from Leica, via this post on Leica Rumors: Leica is actually releasing special edition cameras for the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China! I've worked a lot in international human rights policy and the role that culture plays in these matters, and I really cannot believe that this edition was okayed by the Leica team!

Assuming the rumor's true, perhaps these cameras are equipped with automated lens-smashers or umbrella cops, to foil any photographic documentation that might run afoul of Communist Party censors?

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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Adam Stanhope

Why on earth should anybody consider this offensive?

The People’s Republic of China is a legitimate government. We may not agree with a lot of what they do, but life in modern China is not like living in an open-air armed prison camp. It is a place where more than a billion people are clothed, sheltered, educated and fed every single day.

The Communist government that emerged under Mao in 1949 marked the end of a long period of occupation, war, warlord feudalism and exploitation by forces from both within and outside the country. The ensuing 60 years have been no “walk in the park,” but today the Chinese people are living exceedingly well and most regard Mao as a hero who saved the nation.

Perhaps somebody in China might consider a July 4th version of a Leica manufactured for the US market to be offensive – and equally ridiculous idea.

***

P.S. There is a long-time Chinese Leica rip-off line of cameras called “Red Flag” which are quite beautiful and also very hot collectors’ items.
Thirduncle

That is a tacky creation alright and if its expensive it will sell well.

I don’t think anyone would defend the CCP’s human rights record but as Leica undoubtedly sell cameras in the USA, currently involved in massive human rights violations around the globe, why would not sell them in China?
Jonathan Badger

I’m not the biggest fan of the Chinese government either, but the fact is many Chinese people are proud of the PRC, especially as the horrors of Mao’s rule fade from memory and the PRC is associated with the post-Mao improvement in living conditions.

You could just as well argue that celebrating America’s bicentennial in 1976 was somewhat creepy given that America had just gotten out of the Vietnam War, but there was a lot of bicentennial merchandise for sale then too.
paradoxcycle

China: the worlds largest (and oldest) petulant child.
- Hal
  
  if the PRC is a petulant child what does that make the USA?
  Cartman?
  - paradoxcycle
    
    @Hal: In which country would you prefer to live?
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    if the PRC is a petulant child what does that make the USA? Cartman?
    
    One of the main political factions in the US is like Cartman. The other is more like Butters.
  - strangefriend
    
    ” . . I wonder how the world sees us.
    Rich beyond compare, powerful without equal, a spoiled, drunk, 15-year-old waving a gun in their face. . .”
    
    LONG LONG TIME
    Guy Forsyth
malathion

Leica has long been the Franklin Mint of camera companies. You can find many special editions, especially of the M-series.

I love their quality despite this habit; it’s sort of like a beloved uncle that likes Gilbert and Sullivan.
kc0bbq

That is a hideous camera. It’s just awful looking. Even if it was being produced for Lower Utopia it would still be obnoxious.

But hey, there is no better political statement about the rise of the PRC than cashing in on it as a consumer driven event.
Anonymous

In very related news, Chinese company Like-a announced their knockoff of this camera today.
Anonymous

Hmmm somehow the “ethnocentric” argument here seems a bit hysterical…

Ugly/expensive collectors item anyhow
Hools Verne

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

I don’t mean to say that China is perfect or a godsend to Tibet. The actions of China during the cultural revolution were horrific and their continued racism towards Tibetans and dissolution of their culture is shameful. However, Tibet had some very real problems before the PLA invaded the territory. You can support a free Tibet and also recognize that it was never Shangri-La.
Anonymous

I don’t think anyone is ‘hating’ on China here.

Just because you’re critical of this product (which I am) doesn’t mean you’re a China hater (which I’m certainly not).

And, conversely, if you don’t know why this is offensive, maybe you should educate yourself and find out! Just a thought.
Anonymous

@Thebes

We all know WHY Leica is doing this. But they could’ve done it better (as in more sensitive esp to the families negatively affected by the harsh policies during Mao’s rule)

Tactless garbage!
dw_funk

I like the idea of Leica releasing a camera as its special product for the PRC anniversary. The camera (or other recording devices) is one of the most revolutionary tools; the ability to show others corruption and brutality is deeply anarchistic.

Putting it at a price point well beyond the vast majority of Chinese people? Well, if that isn’t emblematic of the state of revolution in China, who knows what is.

More revolutionary: selling/providing cheap video cameras with efficient means of distributing the digital recordings.

But I love how the camera looks anyway. It’s like a toy that probably takes better pictures than my G9.
Thebes

If you don’t understand why Leica would produce this edition, then you have not been paying attention to China. China is a massive emerging market for photography with a significant body of new work, new cameras, new films(!), they now purchase a significant quantity high end gear… I would say they might be the most important market for new gear right now.
ackpht

These things will end up in the hands of wealthy collectors who will rarely take them out of their boxes. If there’s an irony here it is the production of a high-quality camera which is not intended to actually take pictures.
maverick00010

That is really interesting. I gotta check it out!
benher

Once the photos are developed, we can create a huge bonfire to burn them!

Giant Mao posters celebrate our Glonous History And Cultual!
imorgan73

Truly a great leap forward in camera design.
Anonymous

“The AT&T corporation’s (sorry that’s *citizen* not corporation) building where they wire tap us…”

the one without the windows? nah that’s where they keep the minotaur
doggo

Amen #24. The monk-ocracy Tibet was lead by was not all the goodness and enlightenment Richard Gere would have you believe. Great, if you’re a monk. Not so great if you’re a peasant.

For the quick and dirty lowdown see the Penn & Teller Bullshit! episode “Holier Than Thou”
Anonymous

The Chinese couldn’t make their own? Now THAT’S funny!
demidan

60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China Leica, because 20+million dead can’t be wrong!
Anonymous

And this is offensive because why?

Because it’s the anniversary of the PRC?

Would this be “offensive” if, say, Leica released a 125th US anniversary model?

Obviously, some people here graduated from University without ever learning what “shallow ethnocentrism” and “self-righteous arrogance” mean.

I mean, hey — the US is just ending its effort in Iraq, where it basically destroyed a country — and, by any sane measure, if we’re going to hold the CCP accountable for those who died in the Great Leap Forward, then obviously the US should be held responsible for all the dead in Iraq, as well — over 2 million in just six years! And still counting!

What’s China been up to, lately?

Oh, that’s right: dealing with the blowback from US predator drones and daisy cutters at work in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- dequeued
  
  That looks like typical Chinese plastic garbage, that will fall apart after a day.
  It’s also tasteless and gaudy, and I wouldn’t want to associate with anyone that likes it.
  So, in that sense, it really encapsulates China.
  
  Also, anonymous, please stop pimping that stupid Lancet report already.
  Large numbers of people dying as an indirect result of us military resource mismanagement is NOT the same as willfully trying to exterminate a people and a culture (Tibet).
  Why don’t you talk to someone who’s actually serving in Iraq?
  American soldiers spend most of their time guarding things.
  They didn’t go out and bayonet two million people.
  - Pantograph
    
    That looks like typical Chinese plastic garbage, that will fall apart after a day.
    
    But it is a Leica, so it will cost more than China’s GDP. Still cheaper than an M8 though.
  - niten
    
    Oh, for…
    
    China’s not bayoneting people in Tibet, either. They’re not “exterminating a people”. They are actively trying to dilute a culture through migration, and religious freedom isn’t allowed. You could really get on your high horse about that, though it’s not nearly so damning as your implied genocide, if you weren’t actively messing around with religion and culture in Afghanistan and Iraq, banning sects, opening girl’s schools, establishing secular democracies where there were theocracies, and otherwise trying to change the culture to your liking. That’s different? Why? Because your culture is better than theirs?
    
    (Hah, it just struck me…Tibet was a theocracy, too, and I can say with assurance that the Communists would have insisted on equality of the sexes. I still think the invasion was wrong, but…interesting parallel, wouldn’t you say?)
    
    I happen to agree that girls should get education, too, but while you’re actively engaging in military action with the goal of changing other cultures, you better watch how you phrase your xenophobia so you aren’t so blatantly hypocritical.
    
    China’s got issues, but it’s also doing very well, and the average Chinese person is delighted and proud of the fact that they as a nation no longer have to grovel. In a recent poll, 80% of them said they were happy with their state of life, versus ~30% in most Western countries (and no, coercion wasn’t involved). I see nothing wrong with their pride in country. As has been pointed out above, the US doesn’t exactly have clean hands, either.
    
    Oh, yeah, one more thing: I get tired of hearing endlessly about human rights abuses in China (which, admittedly, do exist and should be addressed–by Chinese people) from a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world–seven times higher than, uh, China (though that’s a disputed figure, I doubt they could top you). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration#Incarceration_rates_by_country
    
    (Hah, I wrote ‘highest incarceration rate in the _free_ world’…but that turned out to be unnecessary. Highest in the world, full stop.)
    
    Most of those record-setting incarcerations involve consenting adults using recreational drugs–particularly marijuana, a harmless little houseplant with no significant side effects. But that’s not a human rights issue, that’s protecting people from themselves through endorsed prison rape! I can taste the freedom from here.
    
    I’m not a US-hater, there’s a ton of stuff to like about you guys. I’m not an apologist for the Chinese, they have deep problems that they’re gonna have to face. But most of what you’ve got going on here is xenophobia, and it’s hypocritical. The Chinese are not nearly as bad, nor are you nearly as pure, as you’d like to believe.
    - paradoxcycle
      
      @niten: And yet you mention nothing about how China treats their women. Under the law, women have gained equality in education, marriage, rights and freedoms, but in many villages and rural areas, the laws are ignored. Domestic violence is still widely reported, and trafficking in women and children, especially girls, is a regular occurrence. Female new-borns are often killed or abandoned. Abortion is encouraged. Hundreds of “mobile abortion clinics” have roamed the countryside. Women are forced to submit to abortions or sterilization after a birth has occurred, by local authorities, anxious to adhere to the one-child family ideal.
      
      The Chinese constitution states: “Women in the People’s Republic of China enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of life, political, economic, cultural, social, and family life.” This is complete lip service given to women’s rights on paper and isn’t practiced on the streets, homes and workplaces of the nation.
      
      But yeah, you aren’t an apologist, right?
      - Hools Verne
        
        How is this disparity between the law and practice all that different from the United States? I couldn’t find stats on China’s domestic abuse, but I did find an article saying the All-China’s Women’s Federation receives about 50,000 DV complaints annually. China’s population is 1,325,639,982 so a quick and dirty division gives you .004% of women abused. I’m sure the number is much higher, but I’m skeptical that it is much higher than our 25%. Child trafficking is a problem throughout all of Asia so it’s pretty disingenuous to blame that entirely on the PRC government. As for the abortion issue, reproductive rights have only been recognized federally in the US for 36 years and are still not fully accepted by almost half the country. Sexism is hardly a Chinese phenomenon.
        
        nlss y wr tryng t sy tht th PRC s mr sxst thn Tbt ws whn t ws thcrcy? Y stll hv th sss f plyndry nd plygmy whr wmn wr rlgtd t th stts f prprty n bth css.
      - paradoxcycle
        
        @Hools Verne: China, has approx 1/5 of the world’s people, has 56% of the world’s female suicides. 500 women a day commit suicide in China Why do you think this is?
        
        Domestic Chinese population experts admit that the Chinese government continues to persecute women who exceed their allotted quota of children. Any woman who has more than her quota faces heavy “social compensation fees”–up to ten times annual household income in China–and often the following: loss of employment, loss of some health care coverage and educational opportunities for her children, imprisonment, forced abortion, and legally mandated sterilization. Her husband faces the same with the exception of the last two. Does the United States do this?
      - Hools Verne
        
        Could you provide a source for the first statistic? I’m not trying to be difficult but I had a surprisingly hard time finding any statistics on domestic abuse against women in China last night and when I googled the suicide statistic it came up twice on websites that never sourced it. The suicide rate among women in China is obviously troubling nevertheless.
        
        As to the one child policy, its varied enforcement depending on location makes it hard to say anything absolutely, but in rural areas its undeniably sexist, intentionally or not. Forced abortions and/or sterilizations though, from what I can find occur at the local level and are supposed to be banned. So it’s a question of neglect on the part of the national government. Is this neglect gender based or class based? I’m don’t know, and I’d guess that both were at play. In this regard though, can you honestly say that the US Federal government isn’t neglectful of social problems in the farm belt?
        
        Finally as to US forced sterilizations:
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_v._Bell
        
        That made the practice pretty popular for a while and those laws are still on the books.
        
        Again: I don’t think that China is a utopia. It’s a corrupt government run by and for the benefit of a wealthy elite at the expense of the rest of its citizens. However, much the same can be said of the United States and to act otherwise seems ethnocentric to me.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Cut the Tibet sniping.
  - Anony Mouse
    
    Whereas the Chinese government is DIRECTLY responsible for the starvation that occurred as a by-product of the mistakes made during the Great Leap Forward.
  - zyodei
    
    Not to get too off topic, but the US has covered Iraq with depleted uranium. The birth defect rate in Fallujah is up from 1% to 80%. Similar, if not so drastic, effects were seen on the birth defect rate and cancer rate in Yugoslavia after Clinton’s war. I just had a couple of Vietnamese couchsurfers in my house, who mentioned the still high rate of birth defects in the rural areas from the agent orange that still contaminates water etc. If all of that’s not trying to exterminate a country and culture, I don’t know what is.
    
    As to Hal’s question, would I rather live under the systemic state violence of China or the systemic state violence of America, well, it’s a little bit like asking if I want to get raped or get robbed. I suppose I’d take the latter, but I’d rather choose “none of the above.”
  - Boris Betteroff
    
    This Leica is a very well made camera, indeed. I’d like to have one of these. In communist colours? OK. Then make me one with Nazi swastika, too. Thank You!
- Neon Tooth
  
  Hear Hear,
  The smugness and hypocrisy of my fellow Westerners here is embarrassing. We could go line for line with all the funny things that the U.S. version could be used for:
  
  Nice snaps of wedding parties being blown to bits..
  The AT&T corporation’s (sorry that’s *citizen* not corporation) building where they wire tap us…
  Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, the entire profit driven prison economy….
  Would need all the time in the world to list all rest…
  - paradoxcycle
    
    @Neon Tooth: China is still run by a totalitarian government that brooks little interference. To challenge it is to risk one’s life as many have unfortunately discovered and there is precious little anyone can do about it.
    
    China was a communist dictatorship.
    China is now a capitalist dictatorship.
    Both ends meet.
pereubu

I wonder if it has a picture of Chairman Mao on it and plays “The East is Red” like a Chinese souvenir lighter I have?
babVU98i

Maybe putting more cameras in the hands of more people will lead to the umbrella cops being overwhelmed.
Anonymous

Can you take a joke?

Maybe Leica is being a little tongue in cheek with this and folks are just getting offended. I bet there are a few freedom activists who will enjoy the irony of their PRC special edition while snapping pics of oppression.
Anonymous

I would suspect the lens cap just doesn’t come off.
Rob Beschizza

We should be delighted that such a tacky Leica has come into being.
Anonymous

Just as not every American who celebrates the 4th of July supports every aspect of the USA, there are plenty of people who feel some affinity with the revolution without supporting everything the Chinese state is. You might not agree with such people but there is nothing “weird” about it.