talking

All this talk about the protests happening around the center of China against foreigners is worth noting. I had a long discussion yesterday with Jason about the symbolism of such a protest. Today it continued in a similar fashion after our two hour Chinese lesson, but in a different manner. I maintained that China, by winning the olympics for 2008, has forced itself into the world spotlight. Its actions, political on international and domestic fronts, are
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As I was writing this I got a phone call from Yang Cheng, a PE teacher at the school here. He explained to me (at 11:45) that he was at a KTV bar singing and drinking. He passed the phone to a girl who explained where it was. I said I had class in the morning (not true) but really I wasn't in the mood to go out. I got at most four hours of sleep last night and I didn't want to drink again - especially not KTV style. I reluctantly accepted and headed over to the middle gate to meet Yang Cheng.

I actually don't know exactly how I know this person. Last time I saw him was at the sports meeting last week, and he seemed as if we were the oldest of friends. I had absolutely no idea who he was, but did the typical ever-effective shake-hands-nod maneuver in order to keep it social.

At some point I was asked where I was from and I heard someone murmur something negative about France. I inquired what the person's opinion was of France which in turn spurred an enormous discussion between Li Jia Li (the girl who talked to me on the phone) and the rest of the people I had met at the KTV bar. It turned out Li Jia Li was the boss of the KTV bar and Chinese post graduate student at Xi Hua. The four guys I was with at the time immediately interjected "Fuck France" and "Cao Fa Guo" for effect. From what I could pick up from Li Jia Li's explanation, the four guys (Yang Cheng included) were vehemently anti-France for the recent events in relation to the torch relay, and Li Ji Li was defending the actions and castigating the Chinese people's response against Carrefoure. Li Jia Li was poised and in control, a 19-year-old girl against four middle-aged drunks in a smoky KTV room. It was impressive to watch.

It's pretty stupid anyway when you get down to it. This was the point before I got interrupted by Yang Cheng's call. China requested the world's attention by hosting the Olympics. It asked to host foreign athletes, foreign organizations, and perhaps most importantly foreign media. China's in the spotlight now and it clearly cannot take the heat. There are parts of China's foreign and domestic policy that can be easily denounced; we all know what they are. But when the so-called western media monster critiques aspects of said policy, it suddenly becomes a repeat struggle of the 19th century and western imperialism/colonialist influence.

The western media is definitely not out to get China. Most Chinese people would believe that the "West" is an identity in itself; that anyone further west of India shares a similar mentality that includes at the forefront a deep dividing contrast with the mentality of those living in China. More recently, the deep dividing contrast has been exaggerated by both sides as being something innately tangible. The "East" (essentially China) believes the West is out to get it and the "West" believes that the East is becoming too powerful and therefore is out to get the East. It's quickly becoming a buzz word - the West and the Western media as if all of the people in the western hemisphere are conspiring how to destroy Chinese development. In the end, it's a clash of media roles within the relative cultural context. For example I'm able to say I dislike the American government without necessarily feeling any professional or personal consequences. The same can't be said of a similar comment made by a Chinese journalist within China. Chinese journalists can criticize the West as being an imperialist behemoth. A Western journalist, however, is quickly demonized by China for making similar comments about the East.

The West is not out to destroy China insomuch as China is reacting to the new influx of criticism that comes with western media. People here, however, are slow to realize that hosting the olympics makes you subject to different types of analyses. Some of these analysis are foreign and domestic policy suggestions which the broad population as a whole may not agree with. It's worth keeping in check the fervor with which these four middle-aged men, two of whom are from the Sichuan countryside, have deep-rooted angers against a government that never did anything except allowed a brief public demonstration (or in other eyes attempted to tarnish the harmonious image of the Chinese Olympic spirit by targeting a weak handicapped torch carrier and ultimately prevent China's development as a future world power).

More about this tomorrow. Props to Li Jia Li though, who just actually called me btw...