There’s such a lot of world to see

Right, I have a feeling I might need to apologise in advance for this one, as I might get a bit Ben Elton-ish (little bit of politics for you, folks), and this isn’t really the right forum for that – I don’t have the time or space to write about the ins and outs of the Chinese political system, and I’m certain you don’t have the inclination to read it. However, that said, the political regime invades every single aspect of everyday life in China, and it’s impossible not to come away with some thoughts about it. And this, being my metaphorical thought-bucket, is where I have to unload those thoughts, more for my own sanity than anything else, and you, dear reader, are my hapless prisoner. MWAH-HAH-hah (that’s my evil laugh).

In actual fact, you’re not my prisoner, so I wouldn’t blame you in the slightest if you left this post now and went and read Heat magazine and found out all about Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt (and if that child’s not headed for a lifetime of therapy with a name like that, then I’m a baby giraffe).

OK. Anyone left? Anyone? Hellooooo?

Ah.

The thing is, China is, more so than any other country I can think of – or at least have been to – a country with a simply astounding past. Regularly in museums do you see artefacts dating to thousands of years BC, and the cultural history is there to see, with every ancient pagoda or jade sculpture, and for this reason alone it is worth a visit.

4,000 years and counting of provable history, mostly of a nation of innovators, conquerors, survivors, and artists. Not too shabby, all in all. In fact, incredibly impressive.

Sadly, though, the lasting impression will be of an odd system that bears no resemblance to my understanding of communism. Now, I’ll be the first one to put my hand up and admit that my understanding of how communism is meant to work is limited, apart from a short time studying it for my history A Level. Most of which I have since forgotten. However, the vast majority of Chinese people seem hell-bent on pursuing some kind of paradise through the acquisition of material goods, which seems to me more like capitalism. I’m certainly not going to get into a discussion here of communism v capitalism – I know where I stand politically and am secure in that, however it’s never been my mission to be a political individual – but, if this is communism, I’m confused. There seems to have been a tacit agreement between the government and the people – we’ll do politics the old way, you carry on with life exactly as you want to, so long as you don’t cross the line. The shops on any given day are certainly thriving, and adverts for status symbols bombard you wherever you go, it’s inescapable.

And, goodness, do they come down hard on people who cross the line. Did you know that, seventeen years on from the Tian’anmen Square massacre, there are still people imprisoned for having the sheer gall to have staged an entirely peaceful protest against their dissatisfaction with the regime? People who have still not – and probably never will be – brought to trial. People who cross the line simply disappear. In Hong Kong, which is as close to democracy as can be seen in China at the moment, there are notices in certain areas telling the tale of certain Falun Gong (a form of meditative religion) practitioners who have been taken from their homes, apparently never to return, and even more disturbing than that, reports of body organs being taken from still-living people, for onward sale. I have no real evidence as to how accurate these reports are, but I’m inclined to believe there’s no smoke without fire – even if there is one grain of truth in it, it’s incredibly disturbing.

As I said, I’m not about to start a communism v capitalism debate, but another disturbing thing, and one that affected me personally, even as a non-Chinese national, is the sheer lack of information available to the average person. Everything, literally everything, is carefully monitored and controlled in order to give the best possible image of China, and filter through to an infinite level the information about the outside world. If the regime – any regime, not just communism – is so fantastic, why not let the people judge for themselves? Why not let them see what is happening in the outside world, and still decide to vote communist? Watching the CCTV English Channel, one has an insight into what it would be like to be bombarded with this at all times. All the news is ‘happy’ news, and there are such headlines as “And now, for the sports news the whole world is talking about – a Chinese sprinter has won his heat at an American Athletics tournament”. It was easy for me to watch with my ever-present cynical head on, as I’d only been absent from the liberal media for a few weeks, but imagine a lifetime of that, and it’s easy to see why you would probably start to believe it unconditionally. That, for my first few weeks in China I couldn’t access hotmail was incredibly annoying and frustrating, and also made me incredibly indignant, that (allegedly) the government of a country could decide to block an email site simply to better monitor what was being said, and also, that said email site would play along with the site, insisting that it was a technical error. My eye. Allegedly.

On the plus side, this leads to an incredible pride in their country, and a sheer conviction that China is best. When it is its simplest form, such patriotism is to be commended, surely. Children are encouraged to do well at school so they can serve their country to the best of their ability and, while I’m not sure about indoctrinating children before their opinions have had the chance to be formed, I think a smattering of this could be used elsewhere to encourage pride in your mother country. It was also noticeable that this was the first country where nobody, not once, asked me whether I like the country. In India, in Sri Lanka, everyone’s third question (after “Where from?” and “You are married?”) was “How do you like India/Sri Lanka?” Here, nobody asked. It was assumed that I liked it. It has also led to, I suppose, a fear of foreigners – not that many people speak English (not that I would expect them to – after all, I speak no Chinese), and you could sometimes see the terror in people’s eyes if I approached them. This was understandable. Less welcoming were the shouts of ‘laowai’ everywhere you go – a term for ‘foreigner’ that has an element of ‘old buffoon’ about it. Some people were blatantly rude, others were stand-offish (probably the fear), while a good percentage were open, friendly, and protective, even if they spoke no English. Certain things stand out, such as my memorable encounter through sign language with the train conductor, and the truly lovely Ivy who ran the cafe in Gulangyu that I frequented. Hopefully, with the upcoming Olympic Games and the ensuing influx of laowai, this fear will disappear entirely. On that note, I must say that I think they will do a wonderful job of hosting the Games. Beijing is a marvellous city and, human rights issues aside, they will do an amazing effort to present China in its best light. I’m looking forward to it already.
The other issue that really upset me was meeting the beautiful Carmen from Germany, currently 6 months pregnant, and her boyfriend, Jimpa (I’ve most likely spelt that wrong – it’s a Tibetan name). This is her first baby but, because Jimpa is from Tibet, he cannot get a passport. Simple as that – because of the region he is from, he is not allowed out of the country. So Carmen must have her baby in China, a prospect she is not relishing, because she understandably wants to stay with the man she loves, the father of her child. That’s the real face of today’s China.
I heard – again, I have no evidence to back it up – that China purchases 29% of the world’s steel. It cannot need so much and, if true, is surely stockpiling. Add this to other concerns such as the flooding of the Yangtze River by the Dam (for water to the Gobi desert and, more likely, for the incredible hydro-electric power it will produce) is displacing thousands of people and villages. The pollution is dreadful, just dreadful in some places, not helped by the over-reliance on cars. I have talked elsewhere about the smokers in China – I heard that China now accounts for one-third of all the world’s smokers. For these reasons, I would seriously urge you to think twice before you buy anything made in China. It’s up to you to make your own mind up, and I would never, could never, presume to tell you what to do, but please, think about it?
This, I know, is coming across as incredibly negative, but it truly isn’t meant to be so. There are some amazing things in China, hopefully by reading my other blog entries for the country this will become apparent – and I have had a wonderful, memorable month there – but there are some negatives that we need to start talking about as a global community, and soon. The world leaders aren’t doing much of a job, and it’s as if there’s a pink suede elephant in the room but no-one’s mentioning its presence. China certainly has huge potential – 1.3billion people, generally with an impressive patriotic work-ethic, under the right leadership they could be the world leader, not just a world player. Hopefully in the future, this will be the direction the country goes in. Above all, my experience at the candlelight vigil in Hong Kong shows that people there, and presumably that can be extrapolated to the rest of the mainland who do not have the luxury of political protests, peaceful or otherwise, are determined to make the country fair and equal for their children’s legacy and therefore, presumably, the world’s.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 2:54 am and is filed under China, Final Thoughts, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.