You say, I say, We all say.
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2007
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38
42
Trip End
Jul 04, 2008
Kaifeng,
China
Saturday, April 12, 2008
I wasn't worried about the Tibet and Taiwan issues when I came to China. The plan was to keep mum on everything and feign innocence if asked (another trait I picked up as the youngest child). And that was working out. I skirted a few awkward issues last semester when some of my students wanted to write research papers on Taiwan and what they gave me were pages upon pages of propaganda. Or when I showed a Chinese person where Kaifeng was on my Lonely Planet map and he verbally attacked me, wondering why Taiwan was a different color on the map (because it's listed as a different country, which is why the China LP is "banned" here) and why Tibet was a different color (altitude variations
the banner.
. He didn't buy that argument even though it's true.). But I got out of those situations rather cleanly. Then March came around.When the protests in Lhasa started, things didn't change at first here. Since we're essentially blind, deaf and mute, we were unexposed to the initial conversations, or probably more likely, outrages, occurring around us. We couldn't broach the conversation with our students because we didn't know how we'd be treated since we're the 'dirty' Westerners. We already take a lot more liberties in our classes than party officials probably like, and prompting the Tibet issue we know is a definite no. Wanting to know what everyday Chinese people thought without creating problems, we found our information from the China Daily, China's largest English daily. Consequently, our students read this paper religiously.
Like every source of media in the world, the China Daily is riddled with its own problems. Yet, with the advent of the Tibetan protests and the Western media's portrayal of the events, the China Daily's forums have been turned into one big whine-fest. The forums make it seem like the Chinese are the skinny nerdy kids at school who've been stuffed into a locker by the big kids one too many times
panel one
. But here's the thing - I'm not saying China's whining is completely unjustified. Until recently, they always have been the kids picked on on the playground. They have every right to feel extra-sensitive to how they are perceived and treated around the world. And yes, there are some major problems with the Western media reporting. At the same time, I'm troubled by the Chinese's lack of self-awareness when it comes to their global position. There doesn't seem to be any shift of mentality in China to accompany the shift in reality. China's a burgeoning global power. They have a vast army, prepped and ready to go. Their economy is soaring and the world depends on China to make it go round. They have clout. They don't need to harness the mob mentality whining chorus to make their point. One blogger on a China Daily forum started to touch on this, saying, "China has started and must continue to be bold and transparent . Tbt and the minority tribes in China have been treated more favorably than any other equivalent minority and natives anywhere in the world !! Why is China not out there trumpeting and shouting from the hill tops . The infrastructure expenditure in transport , education , welfare , medical treatment is second to NONE . If there are a handful ( or even hundreds ) of rent-a-riot mob causing trouble in their brutal ways , let the world in first chance to see and assess the crime. China must learn to be world savvy and sleek . One of the first thing to do is to be believable". And now Kaifeng, poor and isolated from most of the development that is drastically changing China's physical, economical and social landscape, is starting to feel the effects
panel two
. Right in my classroom. Yesterday Erin told me how the class we share came into class, wanting to be let out early. The reason? So they could go to the New Campus to fundraise money. The money would then be spent on Chinese flags to send to Australia, bolstering the Chinese supporters for the Olympic Torch. Then they unfurled this giant banner they made that supported the Han Chinese actions in Tibet. Our student Ricki asked Erin what she thought of his addition to the poster, a chunk of photographs that said Tibet IS, WAS and ALWAYS WILL be a part of CHINA.Today, as Max and I walked back to our apartments from lunch, I noticed a bunch of my students from that class reading a bunch of signs along the pathway. This is nothing unusual since the pathway is always smothered in party slogans and advertisements for campus clubs. But as Max and I got closer, we realized it was the banner that our students had made.
The banner was a lot larger than I was expecting and connected together the riots, the CNN issue, and the Olympic Torch protests. I was completely floored. And disturbed. The banner made both Max and I uncomfortable. It feels much more like a manifestation of physical anger and rage against the West than a political protest. Maybe I feel uncomfortable because I know my students don't see a distinction between a criticism on their government and themselves. For most Chinese, if you criticize one Chinese person, you criticize them all. And I can't help but wonder, do they see a distinction between me and what they put on their banner? That scares me a little since in the end, they aren't protesting their government, they're protesting the West. And as one of five Westerners in the city, that anger's focused a little too closely.
