On Sat, 20 Jul 1996, Richard Lawson wrote:

I guess it's gotta be me who apologizes.  I wasn't going for any kind of
false humility; I really was unsure.

I had two reasons.  One was the Communist angle.  I wondered if making
Shampoo a Communist would turn off people.  During my formative years in
the late 70's/early 80's, Communism was A Bad Thing.  Russia was called
"The Evil Empire".  I take it as a good sign that no one's blasted me
for including Communism in my 'fic.

   Now is hardly the time to speak up, I know, but...
   I'm afraid what you did in your story _did_ turn me off, for several 
reasons.
   For one thing...well..this may be pure provinicialism on my part, but 
I really can't see an Amazon in good conscience _willingly_ being a 
part of and collaborating with the Beijing government. God knows the 
Tibetans didn't enjoy invasion by the Chinese. Jei Fang might, but I get 
the impression she sees party membership and collaboration as a means to 
power (and in fact you've made that quite clear). In other words, she's a 
sellout, like the Panchen Lama (whom the Communists appointed puppet 
leader of Tibet after the Dalai Lama went into exile in India). I really 
don't see Shampoo selling out her people like that. I'm sorry. It ruined 
the whole story for me.

   In any case, even if Shampoo did nominally represent the Amazons in 
Beijing, either in the Chinese parliament or in the Party Congress (which 
I personally consider unlikely myself; membership in a communist party is 
not open to everyone, prospective members needing to be tested on their 
loyalty to socialist doctrine, and given Shampoo's general disposition, 
not to mention her long stay in Japan, which may well have given her a 
taste for the benefits of life in what used to be called the Free World, 
I'm not sure she'd pass) her influence there, I suspect, would be almost 
nil. Party and government policy are dictated from the top in China and 
all communist nations. 
   You seem to perceive the Chinese nation as a whole as representing 
modernity, the new world to which the Amazons must adapt. They must, as 
the say, move with the times. I personally believe the communist 
dictatorship would be perceived by the Amazons as at best a more ruthless 
version of the old empire (which in many ways it is), which never completely 
conquered them, and at worst a tyranny wanting nothing better than to 
destroy their culture, as has been attempted in Tibet. In any case, 
given the practically superhuman fighting ability of the Amazons (it was 
Cologne who taught Ryoga the bakusaitenketsu and Ranma the hiryushotenha, 
remember, and there may be other advanced techniques they possess that we 
can't even guess at) I suspect they'd have had better luck than the 
Tibetans in beating the Chinese off. I seriously doubt the Communists 
would have ever completely conquered the Amazons either, much less that 
they would willingly want any part in the People's Republic of China or 
pay homage to the Emperor, even if his name be Mao or Deng.
   I'm not sure who represents modernity in China today. It might be the 
new middle class capitalism has given birth to in the PRC, who might 
(please God) be the source of a successful liberal revolt in China like 
Eastern Europe's. It might be the Hong Kongese, or the Taiwanese. It 
sure isn't the Communist Party. 
   It might work better if, unable to subdue the Amazons, the Communists 
come to an uneasy truce with them, claiming nominal control over their 
land but allowing them de facto independence and leaving them to 
their own devices for all practical purposes. That would probably mean, of 
course, that the village would remain isolated, with no links built to 
the outside by Beijing. Jei Fang could then be among those wishing an end 
to the standoff, a recognition of the PRC and cooperation with them, with 
some of those in opposition (Cologne for instance) wishing to maintain 
isolation at all costs, while other more liberal Amazons, perhaps, while not 
rejecting the outside completely, refuse to "open up" if it will compromise 
their freedom, which might well be taken from them if they recognize the 
"Red Emperor". I suspect Shampoo would be one of the liberals. Japan is 
one of the freest nations in East Asia today; that surely rubbed off on 
our favorite Chinese girl.
   BTW: Are you quite sure Mousse and Shampoo would have entered China 
through a normal port of entry? According to the manga Shampoo came back 
to China in cat form, in a package addressed to Dr. Tofu, a rather 
surreptitious means of entry if you ask me. (How Mousse arrived in Japan 
is unknown. The second time he came, at least, he may well have flown 
there as a duck.) I ask because what evidence I have indicates that 
Shampoo and Mousse left China without the proper exit visas. I suspect 
they were forced to, because exit visas, required of all citizens of 
a Communist country who wish to leave their nation for some reason, are 
generally practically impossible to obtain unless the state considers the 
citizen's going abroad to be in the national interest. Is "doing business 
for the Amazon tribe" necessarily in the national interest? I doubt it. I 
frankly don't believe Mousse and Shampoo would have the appropriate 
papers. More likely if they showed up at a port of entry they'd be 
arrested on the spot. I suspect they'd have to get home in a more 
surreptitious fashion.

The second was a point Don Wang also mentioned:  This wasn't much
related to the spirit of Ranma 1/2.  I used the characters, put them in
a setting of my own creation, and had them do things very
un-Takahashi-like.  I was afraid this 'fic had lost all real
relationship to Ranma 1/2.

   It's been done before, and often quite well. I've seen a few 
crossovers between _Ranma 1/2_ and _Star Trek_, not all of which sucked.

Sean makes a good point.  If the story is bad, people will either:  a)
tell me it sucks;  b) ignore it.  But I shouldn't make judgments for
them.

   I find it's usually (b).

A little to my surprise, feedback to my story has been positive.  So
what do I know?

   As for me...the story has potential--don't get me wrong. Still, it 
needs some work. 
   (Shampoo a Communist! NOOOOOOOOO*slap* Thank you. I needed that. :) )

So, okay, no more of that.  I have heard, Sean, and I am chastened.  :)

   Oh. Yeah. Don't beat up on your own work. All it does is annoy your 
readers.

Paul Corrigan
pcorrig@uoft02.utoledo.edu

PS Any response from MLers who've actually lived in China or Taiwan for any 
length of time (if you're out there) would be appreciated. I may not have 
all my facts completely straight, though they're as straight as a can 
confidently get them.