Protesting, Chinese style

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Walking home from work a couple of days ago I discovered these signs of political protest on a shop around Qianhai.  What I could make out is a familiar horror story in contemporary China; the forced reclaiming of old houses to make way for new construction.  Although the government gives residents cash for the demolished house, many times the house in question is so undervalued that residents cannot afford an apartment in Beijing's inflated real estate market.  

Among the cluster of signs above, the most notable are the characters below Mao's portrait that read "怀念毛主席," or "yearning for Chairman Mao."  Nearly all such silent, passive-aggressive protest evokes Mao's name, something that is nearly as unheard of in contemporary China as protesting in the first place.  To many Chinese, Mao is the symbol of an earlier, backward time, even if his face is emblazoned on all currency.

This is not the first time I've noticed this kind of protesting in Beijing; there is also a shop near Gulou located directly next to a large military headquarters with a sign that reads in English: "FOREIGN JOURNALISTS, PLEASE HELP."  They also prominently feature a portrait of Mao in the window.

How am I implicated by living and working in such a place?

Lots of issues with internet usage in China... I'm testing a site that allows me to post through a 3rd party program. Hopefully this works.

UPDATE: Due to recent blocks, we've paid for a private VPN located in America. We can use everything and it's much faster and easier than it ever was before. (Why didn't I do this before?)

~~DISCLAIMER~~

It's been a while. Chinese website blocking techniques are a bit more sophisticated, and it's getting harder and harder to find unblocked proxy server sites or programs that can bypass the great firewall. I'm trying to figure out another blog solution, but in the meanwhile, I found a good temporary solution with a new unblocker program, so back to blogging.

Otherwise, the semester is in full swing and I'm teaching at several schools. It's getting colder and there are red leaves all over Beijing's concrete. I'm learning calligraphy, which is beautiful and rewarding, and have but aside painting temporarily until it comes more naturally again. I've been reading voraciously since I found a new cheap source for books.

How're you?

And so...

Most blog sites have been recently blocked in China, due to, I'm sure, a certain anniversary of a certain massacre. The block is much harder to get around now, as many websites that can make a secure proxy are also blocked. Anyway, I'm using a very clunky, slow program to finally post again.

Anyway, I'm going to post a few of the recent events of this last month. Lets start with...

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~^ A summery trip to the Beijing botanical gardens ^~

Emilie in the grass

Me, pretty much what I look like now.

Emilie, me and a soon to be devoured mangosteen

My people.

Northbound bus.

**Plans**

As some of you may have read, China is experiencing a huge visa crackdown before the Olympics. It doesn't look like this will be changing anytime soon, which means we'll have to leave China for a short time.

This is more or less what's happening: Ariel, Silvia and I are going to travel to Southeast Asia, mostly focusing on Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, for around two months. There are a lot of variables at the moment, but this seems certain.

Ariel is applying for a work visa which, as of now, means he has to go back home and apply there. (Even though I got my work visa in China, the rules have changed or at least temporarily changed.) He'll probably go back to Miami for a few weeks. Silvia and I, in the meanwhile, will be traveling and meet Ariel in Hanoi after he gets back from Miami.

Even though I have a work visa, I've resigned from my job. It's not much of a loss at all because I don't feel much attached to it. I'd like to return to China to concentrate on studying Chinese and earning enough money to live on by private tutoring. I need to improve my Chinese, for sure, and focus on learning rather than money.

Right now, money is not a big issue because we've saved a large amount in China. We have plenty of money to travel cheap for quite some time.

So this is what's happening. We're trying to figure out what to do with all of our things and how best to plan this. Absoluetely nothing is certain, including easily coming back into China, and we're all limbo. Anyway, it'll be great to get away from the coal-grey air and long workdays.

地震

Tens of thousands are dead in Sichuan province. The situation is dire. China is hurting right now.

If you'd like to help, donate here.

Things are happening.

Chinese are talking about Ti bet, but not in any major way. Most of my students think what's happening is wrong, but believe they don't have the resources or ability to do anything about it. Ti bet, even after it was no longer an independent kingdom has always been considered far and remote for most Chinese. People who live in nearby Sichuan province have far more experiences with Ti bet ans, and maybe I'd feel more angry reactions if I were there. To the average Beijinger, news on the conflict came very late and was heavily opinionated. On CCTV9 they called it the "La ma clique separatist movement" and voiced that the Ti bet an people were being misled. I think most people believe this to a degree, but also view the Ti bet an plight sympathetically.

Due to all this and more, the Olympic torch was extinguished many times on route through Europe with thousands of protesters. Now that the torch is coming to San Francisco, there will be many more. Mainland Chinese are mostly unaware of this, and the reporting on the torch relay is totally positive with smiling faces and interviews with happy athletes. Even Hilary is calling for a presidential boycott of the opening ceremony, but I'm sure Chinese don't know this.

Like anything, this is complicated. I understand the anger, but I also see how excited and prepared Beijing and the Chinese are. Most mainlanders are totally unaware of what really happens in China, and they may not understand anti-China protests. Many cannot separate people that are anti-Chinese government vs. anti-Chinese. I've had Chinese ask me, "why do Westerners fear China?" or "we are a poor country, so why are we a threat?," etc.

Truth be told, the 百姓 (common people) ARE poor and have almost zero control over anything in government, so using the Olympics as protest is a way to give voices to the voiceless. However, a total boycott (not just the boycotting of the opening ceremony) will harm the potentially vital relationship between China and the Western world. It's true that China has a million problems, but the progress that's been made is astounding. Millions of Chinese died from the worst famine in history, horrific cultural cleansing and terrible misguided policy in this century. To see a China where things are beginning to drastically change is beyond impressive and important to note. You cannot compare China's human rights, politics, etc. on equal footing with Germany or America or France; it's unfair and impossible. The West is 40+ years ahead in development and China just recently showed up at at the race. More time is needed to see a fairer, more democratic China.

(To avoid my blog getting shut down, if you post about Ti bet, leave a space between or use a different spelling, like Teebet.)

Writer Tom Doctoroff is one of the most insightful American journalists on China today. His angle is more from the advertising/business perspective, but he gets China and Chinese people very right.

Clever Onion article on Chinese production.

人民日报很快乐!
The blissful happiness of the People's Daily.

Alright, so when I get my news I don't necessarily look to the People's Daily, but it's important to see what kind of news China is projecting to its' countrymen and the rest of the world. It isn't pretty, especially the opinion section. Most of these articles, like one on global warming, are tame but seemingly well-meaning, and feature some scattered, unattributed statistics. (however the point is summed up well in the second to last paragraph as to who is really to blame.) Expect droll, numbing writing with state mandated "positive outlooks", pointing the blame, or, occassionally, ridiculous stuff like this.

Of course this is a state owned paper in the most censor heavy country on earth, so making my case is like shooting fish in a barrel. What is more interesting is state media getting hip to new, more Western or 1st world concerns like gay marriage, lessening the death penalty, even democracy. Still, China needs to deal with the hundreds of millions that live on pennies a day first and foremost rather than building the largest opera house on earth. A rich slum is still a slum.

An excellent article on the Sanlitun bar street bust. (certainly not from China Daily.) This bust specifically targeted black guys in an area filled with African drug dealers and happened nearly two months ago. I was unaware of this event before today.

* Background on Sanlitun: Sanlitun (三里屯) is an incredibly grim bar district and old expat favorite filled with Chinese girls belly dancing with snakes on KTV bar tables while 50-something American men in Hawaiian shirts drink 50RMB mojitos with massage parlor girls. (Or something like this.) Lots of drugs, prostitution and sleeze out in the open, so it's a bit like the touristy or Club-y parts of South Beach. Regardless, they have a lot of good restaurants and great DVD shops.

• An excellent blog post about the unfair expectations placed on Chinese manufacturing. This is especially topical as this date rape "Aqua Dots" toy is just another example of scary products in China. (The toy was made in Hong Kong, I've heard, so it's a shoddy product from a place known for better quality than the mainland.

• Here's a story of role reversal: my company produces an online game ("Perfect World") that is slated for US release soon. This game is already popular in Brazil, but this week an illegal American group called GameHaze hacked the Brazilian server and stole the code, created a new server and is hosting "Perfect World" on an unofficial server. (Or something like this.) They are making money off of this game illegally and want to make their own English translations and additions. This should be sorted out, but still... Americans ignored a Chinese copyright. Irony.

• Also, a great blog that hasn't, strangely, been updated in a while. The writer also wrote this tremendous account of what it feels like to be the product of a culture that conceals.
  

HEY STRANGERS OUT THERE! POST MORE! 汉字可以用！

廊坊

So yesterday Ariel, Silvia and I got back from 廊坊 (Lang2 Fang2) a medium sized city about an hour south of Beijing. This is our friend Anna's hometown, so she showed us around this rather friendly, although very chaotic, extremely Chinese city. It was a particularly bright and happy couple of days as we walked around The People's Park, ate great food, got stared at, shopped in small markets and taxied around.

Chinese cities, apart from the giants like Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Beijing or Shanghai, feel like an extention of Communist village life, both in outlook and design. There is a central square, or "People's Park" which is, in turn, surrounded by block housing and various designated shopping streets. There are a lot of government owned restaurants and department stores jumbled together in these areas and something like a "women's street," "worker's hall" or "children's monument" with villagers selling vegetables, old women fan dancing, old men playing Chinese chess and kids running around through water fountains or designated green areas. It's extremely controlled design with key uniformity, but if offers a very well utilized public space for families. There is a lot to say about the overwhelming sense of community you get from smaller, more Chinese cities here.

Oh, and it's OCTOBER HOLIDAY, so I have the whole week off. October 1st is when the People's Republic was founded, so most people get at least a few days off, and white collars get the whole week.

Lots of marriages in Lang Fang. Anna explained that since it's October Holiday, a lot of couples will get married since they have the time available.

Toy Seller.

A topiary of one of the "Friendlies," the Olympic mascot for China.

These bubble things looked both dangerous and fun, as most fun things are.

One of the many couples in 廊坊人民公园 (The People's Park of Lang Fang)


This pained look was actually encouraged by the photographer.

Courtesy of Silvia. Wonderful and fairly common ad for a kind of North Chinese liquor.

Besides the obvious strangeness of the Roman columns, the Chinese above calls this area "Beijing Women's Street," which is an actual place, although it's located in Beijing, naturally. Don't get it.

Anna's home. See lives in a very, very traditional village outside of town.

Ariel and I tired and returning home.

Silvy and I.
A tourist bus. This style of travel is common, especially for lower middle class since costs can be kept very low. Many of this buses come to Beijing and unload dozens of bewildered, mostly village types.