China, hao bu hao

Brain Drain to China

Reva — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:28:00 GMT

Today, The New York Times ran a story about U.S. educated Chinese scientists who are returning to China. Shi Yigong, pictured above, is a naturalized American citizen and 18 year resident of the U. S. He resigned from the faculty of Princeton University to become the dean of life sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

This should not be surprising considering the growth of China's economy and the resultant national pride. Also, China's government has been wisely increasing its spending on research and development for the last decade.

Nontheless, returning to the homeland has its trials. From the article:
The tension has spilled over into the Chinese blogosphere, where Dr. Shi has been attacked as insincere and untrustworthy. In a posting in 2008, Liu Zhongwu, a professor of science and engineering at South China University of Technology, said that Dr. Shi should be excluded from any projects that touch on China’s national interests. “Bear in mind, he is a foreigner,” he wrote.

It will be an uphill battle, but an exciting challenge. Dr. Shi said,

“In the United States, everything is more or less set up. Whatever I do here, the impact is probably tenfold, or a hundredfold.”

China is luring scientists home

What did Jackie Chan say and what did he mean by it?

Reva — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 04:12:00 GMT

Here's Jackie with his son, Jaycee. Jackie Chan set off a hail of critcism recently by saying, "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled," during an economic conference on Hainan Island. "If we are not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."
Jackie Chan Strikes a Chinese Nerve   According to The New York Times, the comment was considered extremely insulting in Hong Kong and Taiwan, especially, but also on mainland China. A spokesman for Jackie insisted the comments were taken out of context.

I wonder.

He's an avowed patriot. He sang at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and denounced the protesters who interrupted the torch relay.   No doubt he's brown-nosing the Chinese authorities. Democracy is not on the government's near future agenda. Economic growth and continued power are. I also heard from my students in China that too much freedom is not a good thing, leading to disharmony and instability. Same as stated in the NYT article.

I also wonder at the outcry against his comments. They really surprise me. Of course the NYT article mostly quotes sources in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Taiwan is a democracy and Hong Kong, though controlled by China, has more freedom than mainland China. Here in the west, we often don't distinguish between these Chinese places, though they are separate entities and vastly different.

Neither in my time in China, nor in later internet comments from young Chinese have I heard demands for democracy. The young demand respect from the West for China; they demand the West stop using democracy as a standard for good government; they state that China will have its own system of government that will be distinctly Chinese.

Yes, there are those on the mainland who long for democracy, but realistically, I expect only a few will risk instability for it. And frankly, if life keeps improving, as it has for the Chinese over the last two plus decades, why make a change?

China muscles its way about Africa

Reva — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:15:00 GMT

Europe and the U.S. have abandoned Africa. China has swiftly moved in with financial aid. In return? Read the following article.

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa barred the Dalai Lama from a peace conference in Johannesburg this week, hoping to keep good relations with trading partner China but instead generating a storm of criticism.

Friday's peace conference was organized by South African soccer officials to highlight the first World Cup to be held in Africa, which South Africa will host in 2010.

But because the Dalai Lama isn't being allowed to attend, it is now being boycotted by fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President F.W. de Klerk as well as members of the Nobel Committee.

"It is disappointing that South Africa, which has received so much solidarity from the world, doesn't want to give that solidarity to others," Nobel Institute Director Geir Lundestad told The Associated Press in Oslo, referring to the decades-long fight against apartheid.

An eclectic mix of Nobel laureates, Hollywood celebrities and other dignitaries are coming to discuss issues ranging from combating racism to how sports can unite people and nations.

But Thabo Masebe, spokesman for President Kgalema Motlanthe, said a high-profile visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader would have distracted from the conference's focus.

"South Africa would have been the source of negative publicity about China," he said Monday. "We do value our relationship with China."

China's largest trading partner in Africa
South Africa is China's largest trading partner on a continent in which China is heavily and increasingly involved.

Tamu Matose, a spokeswoman for Tutu, told the AP that Tutu would not attend "because of the Dalai Lama issue." Tutu was quoted Sunday as calling the barring "disgraceful."

"(South Africa) should admit anyone with a legitimate and peaceful interest and should not take political decisions on who should, and who should not, attend," de Klerk said Monday, announcing he also would skip the conference.

The Norwegian government said it "regrets" the South African decision, and was considering whether to withdraw.

However, the South African Communist Party backed the move, saying March was a particularly sensitive time for a visit.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of anti-government riots in Lhasa, Tibet's regional capital, and 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped into exile in India after Chinese troops crushed a Tibetan uprising.

China claims Tibet as part of its territory, but many Tibetans say Chinese rule deprives them of religious freedom and autonomy. Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of pushing for Tibetan independence and fomenting anti-Chinese protests.

South Africa decided last month to refuse to issue an official invitation, without which, Masebe said, the Dalai Lama cannot visit.

Masebe said the spiritual leader had been welcomed twice previously in South Africa and would be welcome again in the future — but "not now, when the whole world is looking at South Africa." for the entire article: S. Africa bars Dalai Lama from peace forum

A bibliography for today's China - We need to know this place

Reva — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:37:00 GMT

I recently finished a book proposal for my manuscript I Ran Away to China: Three Years in the Next Superpower. I needed to make a list of the competition - nonfiction books about China that indicate there is a reading public for my book. I have been reading everything about China that I can get my hands on for several years, so I was astonished to find many recently published books I hadn't heard of. And I was pleased. American publishers are "catching the wave," to use a phrase popular with my Chinese students in 2001.

I've read some of these books. For the books that I haven't read, I gleaned descriptions from reviews. There is a fabulous array, from humorous travel stories to indepth journalistic reports to academic discourses. I've divided them into two categories, the first are books about China in general, the second are about Xinjiang province and Uyghur people, my special interest.

An Abbreviated Bibliography on China

Chinese entrepreneurs see an opportunity with Obama

Reva — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:17:00 GMT

In Shanghai, Malcolm Moore writes for The Telegraph on Nov. 7, 2008 Chinese entrepreneurs get Obama-mania

China's state media has been exuberant about Barack Obama's victory in the US Presidential election.

China's State Trademark Bureau has received official applications from 16 companies so far, keen to exploit Mr Obama's popularity both in China and abroad.

Polls in China before the election found overwhelming support for Mr Obama, and the state media has been exuberant in the wake of his victory.

"We are elated at the landslide victory," said an editorial in China Daily, the state English-language newspaper. "We wish him all the best in re-energizing the world's largest economy with his brand new ideas and vision," it added.

T-shirts emblazoned with the three Chinese characters for "Obama" sold briskly before the election and factories have already started producing a range of Obama merchandise.

In the famously entrepreneurial and cut-throat coastal city of Wenzhou, a trademark application was made by an unnamed shoe manufacturer in March, according to the Oriental Morning Post newspaper. The paper quoted employees who said the idea came from their boss "who believes there is great market value in the name".

The company asked for the right to emblazon "Mei Obama", or "American Obama" on belts, jackets, children's clothes and shoes.

In Guangzhou, a pharmaceutical company was the first to register "Obama" in February as a brand name for its lines of iodine, surgical spirit and traditional medicine. Meanwhile, requests for "Barack Obama" have come from companies producing instant noodles, coffee and even wooden logs.

None of the applications has so far been approved, and the likelihood of success is slim: all politician's names are censored in China. To get around the block, some companies are already producing clothes marked "Aobama", which is phonetically similar in Chinese.

Mr Obama's half brother, Mark Ndesandjo, lives in the southern Chinese city of Shenzen, where he runs an internet company that promotes cheap Chinese exports to the United States. The company, called Worldnexus, helps Chinese companies set up websites for foreign customers. Mr Ndesandjo is the son of Mr Obama's late father and his third wife, Ruth Nidesand.

Meanwhile, there was also some evidence that the drama of the American election had electrified certain segments of Chinese society to push for a democratic process of its own. Wu Xinbo, vice president of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, said the result sent "a very encouraging signal to the world". He added: "In many regards, the US represents more progressive ideas which China could learn from. China should have its own traditions, its own ways, but should not view this [democratic] system as alien to its own cultural values. It should be open-minded."

Obama prevails!!!!

Reva — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:55:00 GMT

Here in America, I am ecstatic! We have weathered through an 8 year nightmare of failed policies instigated by authoritarian leaders who hated democracy. Nonetheless, democracy has saved us! Barack Obama is pragmatic, thoughtful, smart and honest.

Below is a report from China that I have reprinted from Reuters http://ww.reuters.com

By Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) - China welcomed Barack Obama as a youthful president-elect with the energy to tackle the financial crisis now threatening its economy and an ethnic heritage that could help America reach out to the rest of the world.

Excitement about the billion dollar race filtered down to the streets of Beijing on Wednesday, where ordinary Chinese citizens who have never voted themselves and some who could not even name the candidates embraced Obama's message of change.

"The black guy is a good choice, he has so much more energy than the other one, who was far too old," said Han Xue, a new father who runs a small cigarette and alcohol store and followed the results on a television behind the counter.

The dramatic victory, in which Obama carried some states that had not voted for his Democratic party in decades, was a major boost to America's reputation.

"I am very happy U.S. history was made. I think in a lot of Chinese people's eyes America was a racist country, even today the television said that white people wouldn't vote for Obama," said Li Nan, a student at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"I think that a lot of Chinese will change their mind now."

But gathering economic storm clouds, which threaten to undermine decades of rapid growth, mean the economic policies of the next leader of the United States are almost as big a concern in Beijing as they were in polling booths across America.

"Obama may be more ideological and that could be less good for China in terms of trade," said Wang Hongtao, an Obama supporter studying for a doctorate at the Central Party School in Beijing, and following the results at an embassy election party.

Belt-tightening by U.S. consumers as their economy flounders has hit Chinese exporters hard in the "factory of the world," even though strict controls have protected its banks from the worst of the financial tsunami swamping foreign competitors.

"Officials say there is no impact, but you only have to look around to see that the crisis is already affecting us," said retiree and firm Obama supporter Yu Ze, during a break from a ping-pong game in a Beijing park.

"It's better to have a young person with the energy to handle this. We are a little worried about his position on trade issues, but we think his vice-president really understands China."

Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, is a foreign policy veteran, chosen partly for his years of experience.

TREAT US AS EQUALS

Many Chinese hope Obama's message of unity and respect, and his promise not to demonise China, will usher in a new era for U.S. ties with the emerging Asian giant.

"Obama needs to treat China as an equal, he needs to respect what we are doing and what we have achieved. Bush was too pushy," said 24-year-old English teacher Wu Shan.

Chinese Communist leaders have long believed that the United States is determined to subvert and overturn its one-party rule, a theory reinforced by President George W. Bush's support for pro-Western "colour revolutions" in ex-Soviet states.

And many ordinary Chinese see Western criticisms of their country as a product of fear and envy over its rise, and worry they will try and hold back further development.

"The president needs to understand that China is still a developing country," said Guo Jie, a student of Japanese.

In general though, the outgoing administration is less unpopular in China than many other parts of the world.

"Actually, Bush's presidency was quite good for China in many ways," said street-cleaning supervisor Wang Erxiao, citing expanded trade and adding he would have been happy to see Republican candidate John McCain continue his party's free-trade legacy.

But in a country where getting involved in politics has long been a recipe for trouble, many ordinary Chinese were steering well clear of a vote taking place thousands of miles away.

"Politics gives me a headache," said taxi driver Li Hong with a grin. "I stick to entertainment shows on my radio."

I meet Han Shan on the St. Paul Art Crawl

Reva — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:28:00 GMT

Saturday, I went on the Lower Town Art Crawl. I was with friends Shelley and Betsy. I got waylaid by heated glass earrings and Betsy was grabbed by an artist's spinal xrays. When we found Shelley, she was talking to videographer Mike Hazard. He and Deb Wallwork have co-directed a film called Cold Mountain. It will be released Fall 2008.

The film is about Han Shan, a famous Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty. Mike writes:

Over a thousand years ago, a man laughed up and down the slopes of a cold mountain in China. He wrote poems on trees and walls of caves and on leaves. He limped. He sported a birch-bark hat, big wooden clogs, a patched robe, a pigweed staff and a demeanor interpreted by others as craziness.

He was Han Shan, and he wrote poems for everyone, not just the educated elite. A man free of spiritual conceit, it is unclear whether or not he was a monk, whether he was a Buddhist or a Taoist or both.

By great good luck, we flew to Japan and China to videotape a story about Han Shan, also known as Cold Mountain. We interviewed Burton Watson and Red Pine, two of his key translators. Then we recorded with Gary Snyder, whose Han Shan translations he published in his first book.

Mike and Deb's website is at: http://www.thecie.org/ Scroll down to Sept. 10, 2008 for Han Shan.

What the Chinese need and want: they know, we don't

Reva — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:28:00 GMT

The resounding lesson from my travels in China and experiences with Chinese people outside of China are that Chinese people want to determine the future of China.

Whether they support or object to the Chinese government, whether they long for democracy or distrust it, they resent Americans telling them things are wrong in China and China needs democracy and needs it now.

Our road is democracy, the Chinese are on their own road.

My reply to my commentators

Reva — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:18:00 GMT

(#3) On September 5, 2008, Reva Rasmussen says:

Tom,
I very much appreciate your comments and concerns. I had been reading about Amy Goodman and all the arrests everyday. I understand that those arrests are a danger to us and the news is true.

I also assure you that my story is true. It was astonishing to me when I got home to hear of the riots because they happened while I was not far from that area. Just goes to show that one cannot know what is happening when one relies only on your own experience.

My point was that I saw 10,000 people peacefully marching. The reason I asked police to take their photo initially was because I could see how tense they were. It's always good to approach tense people carefully. Maybe we should not have to, but it's reality. Also, I wanted to keep thinking of the police as people like me, and remind them that I was a real human being. That's why I kept talking to them all day.

On our way home, my student and I stopped at the Guantanamo Cell at West 7th street and Walnut street. Amnesty International gave us a full explanation of the unlawful detentions and torture that have taken place in the name of democracy.

I lived in China for 3 years. I was in China during the WTO meetings in Seattle in the year 2000 (or was it 2001?). China did a fabulous job covering what dissent looks like. I will never forget the photo in the Chinese newspaper of police in full riot gear clubbing demonstrators. Underneath was the headline in Chinese and English: This is democracy. Most Chinese think democracy is a joke. They don't believe that 10,000 demonstrators can march for peace and make fun of our leaders. We did this on Labor Day. Despite the rioting elsewhere, we made fun on the hooligans.

In American we are still struggling to practice democracy and free speech. I explained to my student that the Bush administration has attacked democracy in America. I said in my article that free speech is difficult to live up to, even to those of us who are totally committed to it.

By the way, my student was offended by the article. She states that although she understands we have more freedom in America, no country is perfect and the Chinese are proud of China. She was not there to learn about democracy and why can't Americans accept the Chinese having a different system?

All I can conclude about all the above experiences is that we must guard free speech and keep working at tolerating each others' thoughtful or even thoughtless opinions. We need to respect those countries that don't have and don't want democracy. We need to keep talking.

Reva

Readers comments on my description of a Chinese student outside the RNC

Reva — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:13:00 GMT

#1 On September 3, 2008, beryl knudson says:

This was an interesting article; a guided tour for one student from China through the streets of downtown St Paul; site of many demonstrations of dissent the last few days and more to come. It was like a "Dick and Jane" version of what-happens-here...'Dick' being the cop, and 'Jane' being the protestor.

All I can say is...run Spot run.

What was missed was what could have been one great souvenir for the observing foreign student...one of those empty tear gas containers rattling in the gutter near Mears Park.

(#2) On September 4, 2008, Tom Poe says:

Some would call the article, interesting. I call it appalling, if true. Hopefully, Reva will have the good sense to have the Chinese student type in the URL, wwww.democracynow.org and spend a few minutes watching, reading, listening to Amy Goodman's account of her arrest during the time she was on her tour.

I hope Reva takes a moment, and visits the site, twitter.com/coldsnaplegal, and reads back to the posts that were coming in while she was touring the dissent. I really hope Reva makes time to take her Chinese student to their offices, and discusses the topic of dissent in our country, today. It's a great responsibility to host a Chinese student. It's even greater responsibility to be honest. In America, we don't have to ask a policeman for permission to take their photo.

Showing free speech to a Chinese student outside the Republican National Convention

Reva — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:43:00 GMT

Labor Day I took a Chinese student to downtown St. Paul. It was the first day of the Republican National Convention and a Peace March was planned and I was worried; maybe there would be riots.  I offered to take her to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, instead but she knew the RNC was an historical event and she wanted to go. I was pleased. I wanted to show her America and nothing is more American than a Peace March. The following is my account which I published in www.MinnPost.com on September 3, 2008.

http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices/2008/09/03/3296/outside_the_rnc_showing_free_speech_to_a_chinese_student

On Labor Day I was at home cooking supper with a graduate student from China when we heard on the radio about riots in downtown St. Paul. We looked at each other in shock. We had just returned from downtown, where I had proudly shown my visiting student America’s best example of democracy: Americans of different races and beliefs peacefully protesting government policies. It was a message I had tried to communicate to my students when I’d taught in China, and I had utterly failed. They had flatly disbelieved me.

I now was hosting a student from China who was eager to see the events surrounding the Republican National Convention. I had worried when we arrived in Rice Park at 1 p.m. about getting caught up in violence, but there was no hint of it. My student excitedly took photos of the MSNBC broadcast stage outside Landmark Center.

“All these people out here,” she observed. “In China, when leaders meet; no one can come.” She then wondered if she could take photos of the many police and security people.

I’ve lived in China and I understand taking photos can get you into trouble. I also saw that our own police and security people looked tense. I stepped forward, hands open in the universal show of no weapon, and asked an officer if my student from China could take his photo. He was pleased, but he wanted to know if he should smile or look tough.

“Smile,” I said. “You're representing America.” He seemed perplexed for a moment, and then he beamed.

A gasp at signs for Falun Gong
We strolled around Rice Park until my student gasped at the sight of a couple of women with signs supporting Falun Gong. When I stopped to take their literature, one woman explained about the persecution of the followers of Falun Gong in China. When she realized my student was Chinese, she made it very clear she was not against the Chinese people, but against the Chinese regime. My student listened with a furrowed brow and took the literature.

Around the corner, we were offered free hats and a disc with a photo of Michael Moore looking happy on the cover. “What's it about?” I asked. The two young men explained it was a very funny movie that gave an alternative to the liberal bias of the media. I told them I didn't agree there was a liberal bias and explained why. They listened closely and looked a bit shaken. I assured them I would watch the movie and said we must always keep talking to each other - always. They happily agreed. When we were out of earshot, my student examined the disc, frowned and asked if it was legal. I assured her it was.

I knew a peace march was scheduled but saw no sign of it, so I consulted a park ranger. “Be careful if you go in that direction,” he admonished. In fact, I was quite worried about getting caught in a crowd. When panic sets in, people get foolish. However, I can’t imagine a better way to learn about democracy than watching American protesters. It didn’t take long to find the mass of peace marchers.

My student was thrilled. No wonder, because it was real America, a beautiful nation of disagreement.
Amazing array of issues
Some of the marchers were marching against the Iraqi war; others carried a huge inflated world to represent environmental issues. There were Oromos demanding Ethiopia get out of their country, Code Pink demanding America get out of Iraq. Somalis carried a sign I couldn’t read; a group of Hmong people marched for immigrant rights. Along came George W. Bush dressed as a groom holding the hand of John McCain dressed as his bride. My student was amazed.

“Is it legal?”

“Yes it’s legal.”

Out came her camera and we stepped into the march to get a good photo. We returned to the curb. Above us was one helicopter. “Security?” she asked. “Yup,” I replied. She was impressed. “If this was China, there would be 20 helicopters above.”

Then we watched Israelis with a cause written in Hebrew; a few Jews for Jesus; people representing President Bush, Vice President Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wearing prisoner stripes and chained together; and angry-looking people carrying black banners written in another language. I had to jump into the march again to ask them what they were saying; it was a list of names of allied Iraqis who had died in Iraq.

Police looked tense
No one was getting unruly, but I saw the police were tense and had lined up shoulder to shoulder blocking cross roads. I thought it was an extraordinary number of police, but my student disagreed. “There would be many more in China.”

We walked miles in downtown St. Paul on Labor Day. We saw some 10,000 people in the march and walls of police - and all were peaceful. I only saw one man and woman, dressed in very good clothes, arguing with the police. The man and woman had badges on lanyards around their necks. They were trying to cross the police line, but the police would not allow them, despite their angry admonishments to allow them to get back to the convention. That was the first time that day that I thanked the police for their work.

“It's hard work,” I said, “Thanks for doing it.” Their faces softened; they nodded, appreciative. I quickly took my student to the other side of the street; I was worried there would be trouble.

A long walk home
We had to take a long, circuitous route back to my car, as the police would not allow us to walk back to the Rice Park area. We didn’t mind. My student was thrilled with her photos; she plans to send them to her friends in China. Along the way, I often thanked the police. I saw men and women doing a hard job, standing tensely with heavy gear fastened to their uniforms on a hot day. They had to be ready to take action but do nothing for hours. It’s a strain on a human being.

During the three years I taught in China I longed for dissent; I hungered for the cacophony of American voices in disagreement. Free speech is the crux of democracy, and to live in a democracy, to practice free speech, you have to be strong. It takes strength to calmly listen to people saying absolutely revolting stuff. I tried to explain that we do this in America to my students in China, but they never understood. How could they? What they had seen on China Central TV was footage of American police in riot gear tear-gassing and clubbing American citizens.

Yes, that’s part of democracy, too, until we learn to speak and allow others to speak, until we learn to listen and until we are heard. May we be strong enough to keep learning. Democracy scares the Chinese. Let’s not let it scare us.

A sinologist's take on China's future as a superpower

Reva — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:06:00 GMT

A couple months ago, I discovered M. Dujon Johnson's blog, Black American Lawyer in China. I was fascinated with the perspective of this lawyer and sinologist. Many of the journalists who are writing about China, even seasoned journalists, write like tourists. M. Dujon, on the other hand, writes with understanding. He's there, he's been there several years, he's speaks the language and he's a scholar immersed in what he's writing about. I've added his blog to my blogroll, please go to the source.

I've copied one of his entries in entirety below. It's not my writing, it's his and he's good.

A rising military power, a robust and strong economy, a crucial player within international affairs in Africa and Far East Asia, a vital trading and investment partner to over 2/3 rds of the world's economy, and one of the largest weapons supplier in the world. These are but some of the reasons that many believe China has positioned itself, in the very near future, as a rising superpower. It also doesn't help that the United States is seen by some as a nation in decline. But the question remains, is China on the verge of ruling the world?

There are several things (and I could easily mention a half dozen) that would prevent Mainland China from dominating the world; I will begin with the question of culture.

During the middle 1500's, there was an internal struggle in China's imperial palace on how to interact and deal with the outside barbarian world. That is, should China strengthen and improve itself by contacts with the outside world or should China isolate itself and protect itself from foreign cultural contaminants. China, as we all know, chose the latter...and it was a decision that it still has not yet fully recovered from.

When I use the term 'culture' I am referring to a reference point, a shared history, norms, behavior patters and values. Culture also means the socialization of a people, a programming of the mind so to speak. We all have it to one degree or another. What I find interesting about Chinese culture is that the term 'culture' is also a license to disassociate or excuse one from accountability.

One of the things about culture in Chinese society is that it says "you can't tell me I'm wrong although we both know that I am wrong. If you do then I will lose face (diu lian)." This conscious failure to hold oneself accountable for his or her acts does not exactly put Chinese society in the driver's seat for world domination. Culture prevented the Ming dynasty from making the tough choices it had to make as a leading nation of that period; it appears tht the China of this era has not learned her history well and is repeating the mistake being a culture centric nation at the expense of all else.

If the economy is bad, it's because of the Americans. If our environment is devastating our country and killing Chinese people, it's because Americans modernized too (although the government doesn't mention we're talking almost 150 years ago). If people are asking for democratic change, it's because of foreign outside influences that justify us keeping a closed society.

China in many ways reminds me of a small child, never admitting her responsibility and blaming it on someone else, or never mature enough as a nation to get beyond it's perpetual adolescence mentality of what happened in its ancient history. China continually says as a culture, no matter what we do...it's never our fault!

Leadership in the world community at the political, economic and military levels require, foremost, accountability. In the simplist terms, accountablity is the assumption and responsibility for one's actions, decisions and policies. The world is looking for leadership but I don't believe that anyone in their right mind can see China and its culture of 'do as I say and not as I do,' as fitting the bill.

A Chinese man writes, "Please be patient."

Reva — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:05:00 GMT

I read John Pomfret's blog about China in the Washington Post. I don't always agree with him, but he's thoughtful and knowledgeable, so I appreciate his perspective. But his blog on August 21, 2008 had an extremely worthy comment by a Chinese man named David Xi.

To read the blog and David Xi's comment in context please go to Pomfret's China.

David Xi's point is that today's Chinese people have it better than any previous generation in China.

He says more than this, but I believe this statement is glossed over or lost in much of the West's reporting and American thinking about China.

He also says to be patient for political change in China. I agree that some patience is needed. How much? Darned if I know, but I don't have to. It's up to the Chinese to know how patient they should be.

Also, I can say with certainty that people who have grown up under a dictatorship do not feel safe with sudden democracy. Living under democracy has to be learned. It is not a simple system of government. It involves the making choices and people have to be ready to take responsibility for their choices.

I quote David Xi below:

There's no argument that if both economical and political freedom can be achieved at the same time, then it is a better approach. However, give me an example where this has been done and achieved on a big country as complex as China. The closest that was tried was the reform of the former Soviet Repulics, we all know that has failed miserably.

I am a freedom loving Chinese, and I have seen the current government as one of the best government we've seen in centuries. We are not saying we don't want freedom, we are saying please be patient and give us time to put things in the right order.

What I am saying is, don't under estimate the wisdom of the Chinese people. They have chosen the current way, and are quite successful. Your way may not be the only way.

August 21, 2008 6:29 PM

It is easy to take the high moral standard, and accuse China of human rights violations. For NY Times and Washington Post, it is a sure way to grab headlines and generate support from general American viewers who don’t understand China.

It takes courage to recognize a government, who in the past 30 years (since 1978) guided China in its economic reform with close to 10% annual growth, and lifted more than 300 million people out of poverty. China was not close to an economic player on the world stage in 1978, now China ranked number one in world wide steel production, cement production, electronic and home appliances. China will soon take over the US as the number one in car production. The list goes on and on in every category.

So the message the western media is sending to the ordinary Chinese: You have a bad government, I want to change that so you can have free election tomorrow (and possible chaos). You think they will buy that?

China has made significant progress on political reform. If you ask any Chinese (not westerners), compare to the Mao era, they feel a big difference. It is true that political reform is not up to western standards. But is this the priority for ordinary Chinese? Ask any Chinese, would they trade the current course with a radical political reform that will give them free election tomorrow? They will ask you at what price? Is this the same advice given to the Russians in the early 90s? They will tell you they’ve seen it, it failed. They will prefer a stable country with fast economic progress. Political reform? It will come naturally, not a priority for now.

I have been waiting for stories of political oppression during the Olympics from western media (I know they are looking hard). If this story was what they come up, then I will congratulate the Chinese government for doing a good job in managing such a world wide stage successfully. Two old Chinese ladies sentenced to Labor Camp? Good headline which gives what the western viewers wanted to hear. However, it does not resonate and make sense if you are a Chinese, it’s not part of the culture. Is this the same government that have orchestrated a massive relief effort for the May earthquakes, and have organized a successful Olympics? Wake up western viewers, use your common sense. You are not dealing with the rigid Communist government that was 30 years ago. There are no labor camps in China now. The issue at dispute is economical, not political. What you saw on TV for the Olympics is true, you are dealing with a new China with a confident, effective and popular government that enjoys support of the Chinese people. August 21, 2008 5:03 PM |

Why complaints and freedom are fair and balanced blogging

Reva — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:23:00 GMT

For some time now, I have struggled with what I write about China. I want to be fair, but what does that mean? There is so much to write about China, does fair mean a balance between positive and negative? That would be contrived and inaccurate.

This blog was founded on wanting to represent the China I experienced, the China I was not reading about in the news. I have done this by including news articles and then reflecting on them.

It's my opinion based on my experiences in China and extensive reading about China.

My last entry troubled me. Zhou Yunpeng is a wonderful musician, but his lyrics, as translated, are shocking. They are also fabulous when one considers them alongside Bob Dylan, a musician Zhou Yunpeng admires. It is within this context that I offer Zhou Yunpeng.

Bob Dylan was my era and he was a spokesman for my generation, then he went on to speak to generations that followed mine. We loved his social criticism, we held it dear in our hearts. We came of age during a time when to disagree with the government and an undeclared war was considered disloyal and even traitorous. Bob Dylan was one of our people who spoke against the corruption of society and government and leadership.

I worry that Chinese friends will read this blog and see only criticism and negativity, not the stand for dignity and free speech which results in improving a society.

When I was in China, I longed for dissent. I write in my book,
In China, I was learning . . . how integral to justice and human rights free speech is, how essential a free press is for the development of people’s minds. . . . [I was trying to explain this to my students one day, when] I heard a sudden rush of shouting voices[from America], a crowd of marchers chanting, ‘Hell no, we won’t go!’ followed by my black neighbor’s voice saying, “I can’t trust you because you’re white,” then I saw the church members of an African friend sitting on the steps of the federal building downtown Minneapolis protesting his deportation. I saw Whoopi Goldberg in Steven Spielberg’s film The Color Purple, and film footage of leaders of the American Indian Movement discussing the federal agents at Wounded Knee. A system god-awful imperfect, but the voices were there, I’d heard the voices daily. I shivered from the excitement of it, the beauty of it, the mystery of all these voices, a harmony of disharmony, ‘America, the beautiful multitudes,’ and I looked back at the faces of my [Chinese] students. I was hungry for, desperate for dissent.

No wonder I felt at home in Xinjiang province. I had little in common with the Uyghur people except that they understood the importance of dissent -- because they were ruled by people not their own.

Zhou Yunpeng understands also. And he is popular. This is good. China will develop and prosper because he exists and he is popular. No country can move forward in providing for its people without accepting criticism. We must guard the practice of it in America and we must hope for it to flourish in China.

Musical complaints and the freedom of capitalism

Reva — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:55:00 GMT

China has a new popular musician, Zhou Yunpeng. I first found him and listened to his music on
China Digital Times His music is tender and sweet, his translated lyrics are compelling social commentary.

Don’t be a child of Karamay, you would burn your skin and make a mother’s heart ache

Don’t be a child of Shalan town, you wouldn’t fall asleep under the inky black water

Don’t be a child of Chengdu parents, a drug addicted mother doesn’t go home for seven days and nights

Don’t be a child of Henan parents, AIDS in the blood laughs out loud

Don’t be a child of Shanxi parents, your father would become a basket of coal and you would never see him again

Don’t be a child of Chinese, when they starve they would eat you

They’re worse than the old goat in the wilderness, whose eyes might become aggressive to protect their little ones

Don’t be a child of Chinese, the parents are all too weak

To prove their hearts are as hard as iron and stone, when death is imminent, they save their leaders first.

The underlined phrases link to news articles about these tragedies, some in English, some in Chinese. It's news that will keep you awake at night, but the fact that this musician is protesting these events is good news. Dissent is vital to every nation and a wonderful sign of openness in China.

Shortly after I discovered Zhou Yunpeng on CDT, I was pleased to hear a report about him on Public Radio International.

Journalist Mary Kay Magistad attended one of Zhou's performances in a Beijing bar. She reports, Before singing, Zhou swings back his long black hair and quips, "a prosperous society is a strong tiger; the voice of the tiger reflects the glory of the state." Then he began a song sung to the tune of Frere Jacques, a tune also used for a Chinese nursery rhyme about tigers. Mary Kay reports:

The song gets more daring as it goes along - and then his tigers attacks a sacred cow. He says the Olympics are like a tiger's back-side, don't dare touch it! Only he uses a stronger word for back-side. The crowd eats it up. . . .

Zhou says he doesn't buy all this talk about the Olympics being a coming out party, a chance to show the world how far China has come.

"I think it probably doesn't matter if you want to show yourself to the world or not, because if people's lives are better and if people have freedom of expression and people have a free life, this would be the best show to the world. The honor of the state is reflected in ordinary people's lives."

And it's ordinary people's lives that Zhou sings about - the people who struggle, amidst China's modern glitz - people, he says, like himself.

In another song called, "Buying a House," Zhou complains, "Now I must work hard to pay it off. Even if the sky collapses or the earth sinks, I have to work. Even if the sea dries and the stones rot, I have to work.

My heart is with you on this, dear Zhou. My own personal mortgage won't be paid off until I am 84 years old. It's a crazy kind of freedom that comes with capitalism.

As China develops, who'll take care of Mom and Dad?

Reva — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:40:00 GMT

When I asked my second year university students in Shenzhen to write essays on who they wanted to marry - a topic they thrilled to - I could see a coming problem for the young Chinese. Most of the girls said they would not be traditional wives, but would be modern wives. They wanted a husband who was kind and strong and would appreciate their career. Most of the boys described themselves as traditional and wrote they wanted a girl who was kind and traditional and would take care of their parents.

This brings the about the question of who is going to take care of the old folks in China. AARP has an interesting article in the July-August Bulletin on this question.

Tradition Under Stress

AARP says in part: . . . the ancient tradition of xiao shun, or filial piety—calling for them to care for their parents in old age out of duty and respect—conflicts with their modern goals of separate personal and professional lives. . .

. . . (China's) transformation comes at a time when nearly 150 million people, or 11 percent of China’s total 1.3 billion, are older than 60, and that figure will rise to more than 400 million by 2050, a quarter of the population, according to the China National Committee on Ageing. (Older people make up 17 percent of the U.S. population and will increase to 26 percent by 2050.) The question of who will support this burgeoning older population is not lost on Wang, especially because, as one of 90 million born under China’s strict one-child policy, she has no siblings to share the responsibility of caring for her parents. While the policy has curbed China’s population by an estimated 400 million, the ratio of workers to retirees will decrease from 20 to 1 in the early 1980s to 2.5 to 1 by 2020.

Along with our careers and relocations, in America 37 million Americans provide unpaid care for family members estimated to cost $350 billion. We don't call in filial piety, of course. We call it responsibility. But many families find there is a time when caring for mom or dad at home can't be done and nursing homes and medical assistance come to the rescue.

In China AARP reports . . . While hanging onto aspects of filial piety, many families are changing how they care for aging parents. China’s home care industry is booming. Generating $9.8 billion today, it’s expected to grow to $18.5 billion by 2010 and $71 billion by 2020. But while 2.3 million older Americans live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities, most Chinese would face intense criticism if they sent their parents to a long-term care facility.

This is a hard transition in an American family, too, and we feel plenty of regret and guilt. But as a daughter who has helped move her parents into a nursing home and as a nurse who has worked in a nursing home, I understand it takes a staff of healthcare workers to take care of one person who has significant disabilities. One person at home trying to do this 24/7 risks losing her or his own health. One mother can take care of four children, but four children can't take of one aged mother.

. . . . “A social safety net has to be established,” says Wei Li, a professor of economics at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing.

Indeed, China has new initiatives, including social security coverage for employees of privately owned companies and an experimental health care insurance system that now covers nearly 40 million retirees. The government has also built more than 32,000 senior centers, which provide health care and day care for more than 30 million people.

“But the question is, is this enough?” says Wei.

Desperately seeking superpower status

Reva — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:33:00 GMT

I was stunned when I was in China by my students' inability to think creatively. I found my students also had trouble thinking critically, analyzing, even deriving the meaning of words from context. It seemed that their minds were trained too well to memorize and recite by rote. This is a method of teaching in China; it is also a method of controlling people's minds and a result of a state-controlled media. You can't think about what you don't know and you can't create if you can't afford to make mistakes. My students were very afraid to make mistakes -- that would be losing face, a profound embarrassment.

There are innovative musicians and artists in China. I heard some exciting new music when I was there. No regime can repress everyone, but it sure can repress a population.

I, myself, have bought into the idea of China's rise to superpower status, but John Pomfret, a former Beijing bureau chief for the Washington Post, writes that he doubts China is going to be another superpower. Pomfret gives four good reasons why it won't:   "dire demographics, an overrated economy, an environment under siege and an ideology that doesn't travel well."

At the Gate to Greatness

While Pomfret acknowledges China's huge labor force, he points out that the population growth is 1.8 and a rate of 2.1 is required to keep the population stable. Of course, the point of the one-child-per-family policy was to decrease the massive population, but it also means the working-age population is shrinking at the same time that life expectancy has increased. Chinese demographers at Nankai University predict that the number of Chinese older than 60 will increase from 100 million today to 334 million by 2050.

We all know that China has the fastest growing economy in the world, but Pomfret gives this a new perspective. He states that China's economy is overtaking America's, but on a per capita basis, it is in 109th place on the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook Database. That puts it between Swaziland and Morocco, countries not famous for having burgeoning economies.

And the trade deficit? Nearly 60 percent of China's total exports are manufactured by companies that are not owned by Chinese. When you look at high-tech exports, such as computers and electronic goods, 89 percent come from non-Chinese owned companies.

So, the lawn fertilizer spreader I bought last weekend that was labeled "Made in China," was not necessarily made by a Chinese-owned company.

Then there is the pollution problem. China is the largest depleter of the ozone layer, the largest polluter of the Pacific Ocean, has sixteen of the world's 20 most polluted cities, has polluted 70 percent of its own lakes and rivers and offers clean drinking water to half its population.

Oh dear, it does look like maybe China should have spent less on getting ready for the two-week Olympics and more on long term solutions for cleaning up the environment which will still be there long after the athletes and those troublesome, hyper-critical journalists have left.

Then, there is Pomfret's fourth point: ideology. Pomfret uses the American movie "Kung Fu Panda," a box office smash in China, to make his point.

He reports that Wu Jiang, president of the China National Peking Opera Company, told the official New China News Agency, "The film's protagonist is China's national treasure (pandas), and all the elements are Chinese, but why didn't we make such a film?"

The content may be Chinese, but the irreverence and creativity of "Kung Fu Panda" are 100 percent American. That highlights another weakness in the argument about China's inevitable rise: The place remains an authoritarian state run by a party that limits the free flow of information, stifles ingenuity and doesn't understand how to self-correct. Blockbusters don't grow out of the barrel of a gun. Neither do superpowers in the age of globalization.

I understand what Pomfret is saying here. China can develop only so far without loosening government control and China is to this. More to the point, much of China's population takes comfort in sameness and a single-minded point of view. Dissent is scary. Criticism is infuriating and has nothing to recommend it. This is the result of 50 years of totalitarianism. It will take much time for China and its people to evolve out of this.

A Han Chinese expatriate writes about Tibet

Reva — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:09:00 GMT

Below are excerpts of an essay written by Tang Danhong, a poet and documentary filmmaker from Chengdu, Sichuan province in China. In 2005, she moved to Israel and currently teaches Chinese language at Tel Aviv University. Her essay was published in her blog and translated into English by China Digital Times.

The original Chinese version can be found at: Tang Danhong's blog

The English translation can be found on CDT at: Tibet: Her Pain, My Shame

This message lightens my heart and nourishes my hopes for China and Tibet.
This woman understands racism and power.

She writes:

… For more than a decade, I have frequently entered Tibet and often stayed there for a long time, traveling or working. I have met all kinds of Tibetans, from youngsters on the streets, folk artists, herders on the grasslands, mystic doctors in mountain villages, to ordinary cadres in state agencies, street vendors in Lhasa, monks and cleaners in monasteries, artists and writers…Among those Tibetans I have met, some frankly told me that Tibet was a small country several decades ago, with its own government, religious leader, currency and military; some stay silent, with a sense of helplessness, and avoid talking with me, a Han Chinese, afraid this is an awkward subject. Some think that no matter what happened, it is an historical fact that Chinese and Tibetans had a long history of exchanges with each other, and the relationship must be carefully maintained by both sides. Some were angered by the railway project, and by those roads named “Beijing Road,” “Jiangsu Road,” “Sichuan-Tibet road,” but others accept them happily. Some say that you (Han Chinese) invest millions in Tibet but you also got what you wanted and even more; some say you invest in the development but you also destroy, and what you destroy is exactly what we treasure….. What I want to say here is that no matter how different these people are, they have one thing in common: They have their own view of history, and a profound religious belief.

For anyone who has been to Tibet, he/she should sense such a religious belief among Tibetans. As the matter of fact, many are shocked by it. Such attitude has carried on throughout their history, and is expressed in their daily lives. This is a very different value, especially compared with those Han Chinese who have no beliefs, and now worship the cult of money. This religious belief is what Tibetans care about the most. They project this belief onto the Dalai Lama as a religious persona. . . . .

Why can’t we sit down with the Dalai Lama who has abandoned calls for “independence” and now advocates a “middle way,” and negotiate with him with sincerity, to achieve “stability” and “unity” through him?

Because the power difference of the two sides is too big. We are too many people, too powerful: Other than guns and money, and cultural destruction and spiritual rape, we do not know other ways to achieve “harmony.” . . . .

Not long ago, I read some posts by some radical Tibetans on an online forum about Tibet. These posts were roughly saying: “We do not believe in Buddhism, we do not believe in karma. But we have not forgotten that we are Tibetan. We have not forgotten our homeland. Now we believe the philosophy of you Han Chinese: Power comes out of the barrel of a gun! Why did you Han Chinese come to Tibet? Tibet belongs to Tibetans. Get out of Tibet!”

Of course behind those posts, there are an overwhelming number of posts from Han “ patriots.” Almost without exception, those replies are full of words such as “Kill them!” “Wipe them out!” “Wash them with blood!” “Dalai is a liar!” — those “passions” of the worshippers of violence that we are all so familiar with.

When I read these posts, I feel so sad. So this is karma. ……

In the last week, after I put down the phone which cannot reach anyone on the the other end, when I face the information black hole caused by internet blockage, even I believe what Xinhua has said — strangely I do believe this part: There were Tibetans who set fire to shops and killed those poor innocent Han Chinese who were just there to make a living. And I still feel extremely sad. Since when were such seeds planted? During the gunshots of 1959? During the massive destruction during the Cultural Revolution? During the crackdown in 1989? During the time we put their Panchen Lama under house arrest and replaced him with our own puppet? During those countless political meetings and confessions in the monasteries? Or during the time when a seventeen-year-old nun was shot on the magnificent snowy mountain, just because she wanted to see the Dalai Lama? ……..

What makes me feel most ashamed is the “patriotic majority”: You people are the decedents of Qinshi Huangdi who knows only conquering by killing; you are the chauvinists who rule the weak by force; you are those cowards who hide behind guns and call for shooting the victims; you suffer from Stockholm Syndrome; you are the blood-thirsty crazies of an “advanced” culture of Slow slicing and Castration. You are the sick minds waving the “patriotic” flag. I look down on you. If you are Han Chinese, I am ashamed to be one of you.

Tang Danhong concludes wisely:

Yes, I love Tibet. I am a Han Chinese who loves Tibet, regardless of whether she is a nation or a province, as long as she is so voluntarily. Personally, I would like to have them (Tibetans) belong to the same big family with me. I embrace relationships which come self-selected and on equal footing, not controlled or forced, both between peoples and nations. I have no interest in feeling “powerful,” to make others fear you and be forced to obey you, both between people and between nations, because what’s behind such a “feeling” is truly disgusting. I have left her (Tibet) several years ago, and missing her has become part of my daily life. I long to go back to Tibet, as a welcomed Han Chinese, to enjoy a real friendship as equal neighbor or a family member.

Tang Danhong has hit the nail on the head here. Tibet must choose. It's an issue of autonomy, of self-determination.

Hotel vacancies for foreigners but not for ethnic minorities

Reva — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:34:00 GMT

This is from Canada's Globe and Mail:

BEIJING — With their infant daughter in their arms, Nuer and Guli visited a dozen hotels in Beijing in late May, searching desperately for a place to stay.

Most of the hotel clerks, mistaking them for foreigners, welcomed them and offered a room. But when the couple pulled out their identity cards, the clerks realized they were Muslim Uyghurs from China. And then the response was always the same: Sorry, no room at the inn.

Turned away by every hotel, the family rented an old car for $20 a day and slept in it for two nights. The conditions were so poor that their two-month-old baby became sick. Finally, they abandoned the car and begged to stay at a cousin's overcrowded apartment.

Today the couple have given up. They are packing their bags and getting ready to leave Beijing this month, joining the thousands of other Uyghurs, Tibetans and Mongolians who are fleeing under police pressure in the final weeks before the Olympics.

Beijing turns away minorities

I experienced this myself when I traveled in China with a Uyghur woman. She spoke Chinese, I did not, so initially when we wanted to stay at hotels, she would ask for the room. She was a Chinese citizen, had grown up in China, but was Caucasian. With me, she was assumed to be a foreigner. Yes, the clerk would say with a smile, there is a room available. Then my friend would show her identity card and the clerk's smile would become a scowl. Sometimes the room had disappeared, sometimes it was still available, but we had to fight to get it cleaned, fight to get the toilet unblocked. We learned it was easier to get a room when I spoke English and used my gorgeous American passport.

We stayed at one hotel for two weeks. In that time, the clerk had realized my friend was Uyghur. At the end of our stay, we checked out, then realized we had a 25-hour bus trip ahead of us, we'd better use the hotel toilet before we left. I was kindly escorted to the hotel toilet; they tried to bar my friend from using it.

More from the Globe and Mail:
Tibetans and Mongolians are under pressure to leave Beijing because they are seen as potential Olympic troublemakers. Many people in Tibet and Inner Mongolia want greater autonomy and religious freedom for their regions of China. A wave of protests swept through the Tibetan regions this spring, sparking a harsh crackdown from Chinese authorities.

The Uyghurs are under greater pressure than any other ethnic minority because the government sees them not only as potential protesters but also as potential terrorists. The entire Uyghur population is often seen as a security threat, even though only a tiny fraction have been involved in radical or separatist activities.

Until recently, Beijing was home to dozens of Uyghur restaurants, specializing in the popular grilled food of their Muslim homeland, Xinjiang, in the remote northwest of China. But most have been forced to close over the past two years as the security clampdown has tightened.

Nuer, who has worked in restaurants in Beijing for most of the past 15 years, estimates that 4,000 to 5,000 Uyghurs have been detained or expelled from Beijing as the city prepares for the Olympics. His estimate is impossible to verify, but a recent survey confirmed that many Beijing hotels are refusing to rent rooms to Uyghurs.

What the Globe and Mail doesn't say is there's another reason the Chinese government doesn't want these ethnic minorities in Beijing: they'll tell the foreign visitors about their problems. They'll speak to journalists. China doesn't want the world to know about these problems. China thinks it can keep the problems a secret.

If China wants to be a world leader, it's going to have to learn it can't keep control. It's going to have to learn to take criticism. These will be hard lessons for China.

While we pity the Chinese for lack of freedom and human rights, they are happy

Reva — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:39:00 GMT

The Pew Research Center surveyed people in 24 nations and the Chinese came out as the feel-good people of the world. I suppose that would be the Han Chinese. The article doesn't say.

More than eight in 10 Chinese expressed positive views of the way China is going and described the economic situation as good. . .

More than half the 3,212 Chinese adults interviewed from March to April said China will replace the United States as the world's leading superpower. One in three said they consider the United States as "more of an enemy" than a partner.

Poll finds many Chinese are happy with China's direction

They also said the Olympics will improve China's image around the world, and they continue to approve of the one-child per family policy.

However, they're not happy about everything. Besides complaining about the U.S., they complained about China's corrupt officials, rising costs, the gap between the rich and poor and stepped-up security for the Olympics.

As I wrote in my 6/1/2008 entry titled "Jim Lehrer News Hour: Report on China," the Chinese people are enjoying the highest standard of living and the best government in their history. Yes, there are human rights abuses, but there is a new middle class in a culture in which people believe in stressing the positive. They have good reasons to be happy and proud.