China Meiguo

I've recently become a fan of a website called China Daily Show which offers humorous, parodic (and usually completely made-up) news stories. Since I tend to appreciate this form of highly sarcastic humor (which, despite the clearly fake nature of the stories, usually implies at least some element of truth or reality), I can't resist posting a link to one particular article - Desperate Romney Changes Mind on China. In the article, Romney attacks president Obama's "socialist welfare state" policies, praises China's lacks of social welfare, and is shown posing in a photo with a poor Chinese peasant family whose main social welfare will be their young children. In addition to making fun of Romney, this piece also pokes fun at China's largely lacking socialism in some elements of society (which poses a future threat as China's massive population experiences a demographic shift - more older people with a smaller working-age percentage of the population to support them).

Mitt in a photoshopped pose with a Chinese peasant family

• “China’s emphasis on standardized testing ensures the country will always have a pool of unskilled laborers, thankful for work under any conditions; laborers who lack the critical skills to see through nationalistic rhetoric that blames their problems on other countries, instead of structural inequities."
• “Under Obama, US regulators over-enforce the law and kill jobs . . . In China, it’s the complete opposite. There is an official embedded in the heart of every major enterprise, asking: ‘How can we work together to make even more money?"
• "Republicans and Beijing officials have more in common than one might think, said one senior Romney staffer on condition of complete deniability. Both favor low taxes – with the ultra-rich often paying none at all – while China’s minimal enforcement of environmental and safety regulations have led to double-digit economic growth. For those who gain the most, the benefits outweigh the many hazards."

"Imagine a post-Napster world in which you can search for whatever song or album you want and then download it for free from within the results page. You then own that music, the official version, and can take it with you wherever you want. That world exists, ladies and gentleman. It’s called China." 

A new Apple Store has just opened in Beijing which is the biggest in Asia. The store is guaranteed to be successful due to rich and upwardly mobile, highly image-conscious Chinese consumers and its location at the very popular Wangfujing pedestrian street and shopping area for foreign tourists and upscale Chinese. 

To celebrate the opening of the Wangfujing store, there was the currently obligatory performance of the Korean song Gangnam style with its silly horse dance (just can't escape this song wherever you go nowadays). The store takes up 2300 square meters (24,750 square feet for any Americans that can't visualize meters) and features a 3-floor, all-glass staircase.

A frontal view of Beijing's newest and biggest iStore

very interesting article entitled No Ancient Wisdom for China by James McGregor from his book, No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers: The Challenges of Chinese Authoritarian Capitalism. The title of the article is basically saying that modern China can't rely on its ancient past which contradicts almost all of China's long history of revering its so-called ancient wisdom. According to Chinese myth (or history, depending on how you wish to view it), very ancient China (4000 or so years ago) was a perfect society ruled by wise, moral leaders. Since the time of Confucius, these beliefs have greatly influenced Chinese philosophy, morality and social life. Whenever China has experienced major problems and challenges, one way of dealing with them has been to look back to the wisdom of these ancient rulers.

There aren't many American movies in theaters here in China. Usually, you can find one (maybe 2 or at most 3 in big theaters). There also isn't much variety in American movies shown in Chinese theaters - they're almost always blockbuster action films. Last week was no exception when I happened to walk by a theater on the campus of nearby Chengyi College and noticed this poster advertising  The Expendables 2 which was the only English-language film in this theater.

Here's the second in my series of Chinglish photos. This photo graces the front of a small store on the campus of nearby Chengyi College at Jimei University in the city of Xiamen. Being the only foreigner around, I surreptitiously took this photo, wondering whether the Chinese college students inside were scheming to somehow help resurrect Mitt Romney's presidential election campaign after he alienated at least 47% of the American (non-taxpaying) public. 

Here's a grass jelly drink (not sure whether its FUBO or not)

Things have been pretty violent throughout much of the world lately and sadly China is no exception although things are still much safer here than most countries in the world. One relatively good thing (at least from my perspective of self-interest) is that, unlike much of the world, here in China the violence isn't directed at Americans. Instead, young Chinese are venting their anger at Japan. When I visited the city of Xi'an in the past, I stayed at a hotel near the Bell Tower, a busy but pleasant and peaceful area. Here's some photos of this area during a recent protest showing Japanese brand automobiles turned over and set on fire.

Protests like this have been going on in many Chinese cities lately. Some have been peaceful demonstrations (as in the city of Xiamen where I'm living), but others have gotten violent with Japanese owned businesses being looted and the Japanese embassy in Beijing being assaulted by a crowd throwing rocks and eggs (fortunately I don't think the violence has resulted in any loss of lives as has tragically occurred in recent anti-American protests).

What is causing all this anger and violence? Well, that's probably a complicated question to answer. The simple answer is a group of small, (until lately) uninhabited islands in the South China Sea - the Diaoyu Islands if you're Chinese and the Senkaku Islands if you're Japanese. For a good explanation of the dispute over the Diaoyu Islands as well as a dispute between China and the Philippines over some other islands, see this NPR article.

To an extent, the dispute is also being fueled by politics. The Japanese government recently escalated the tension by purchasing the islands from private Japanese owners. Not surprisingly, this further incensed the Chinese to the extent that lots of young, hotheaded Chinese boys want to declare war and go kill Japanese. The Chinese state-controlled media are playing up Japan's actions and encouraging Chinese nationalism, possibly to divert attention from rumored internal discord over the presumptive soon-to-be new president Xi Jinping and the future leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and government.

Shanghaist has posted some video clips as well as photos of the protests here. 

The feelings of Chinese people toward Japan are probably unfathomable to most Westerners who are largely ignorant of history in this part of the world. In fact, while Chinese are clearly angry about Japan's assertion of control over the Diaoyu Islands, I believe that the anger rearing its head in protests today has much more to do with the past than the present. It is due in large part to justified resentment of Japan's invasion of China in the 1930s and horrendous atrocities committed by the Japanese army (rivaling their Nazi allies in Europe). However, modern anti-Japanese sentiment is also fueled largely by state propaganda which programs all young Chinese to hate Japanese. From what I've heard and read, the current protests have been, to some extent, encouraged by Chinese government and law enforcement authorities. While I'm sure the Chinese government doesn't want these protest to get too out of hand and violent, what better way to keep the Chinese public from protesting anything that might be occurring in China than by giving them a foreign enemy to protest against. 

China will soon have a new president. Unlike the United States, there's no election involved and therefore no political campaigning going on (from what I've been following back in America, that's a blessing!). While Obama, Romney and all their campaign mouthpieces are slinging mud around, China's political scene has been very quiet. Chinese politicians are actually very smart about this - by saying nothing in public, you can't really say anything stupid, be misquoted, or have what you say misinterpreted. 

VP Biden (and other American political candidates) could learn from VP Xi

It is, however, possible even in China, to go too far and be too quiet and invisible. Assumed president-to-be (and current vice-president), Xi Jinping (习近平), has apparently realized this after a 2 week disappearing act that would make Houdini jealous. He even blew off visits by foreign diplomats including Hillary Clinton. The Chinese blogosphere was consequently filled with rumors of what had become of Xi (from heart problems to assassination) until the Chinese blogocensors tried their best to eliminate such cyber-speculation. 

It turns out, at least according to the unofficial government story, that Mr. Xi has simply spent the last 2 weeks in bed, a perfectly logical place for a Chinese vice-president to be shortly before he is expected to be announced as the new president. Apparently, Xi hurt his back swimming and was ordered by his doctor to stay in bed. Nothing at all suspicious about this - as we all know, swimming often leads to back injuries requiring 2 weeks of bed rest. This must be why Chinese people don't swim, unless they're in the Olympics - in which case they promptly go to bed for several weeks after competing.

And of course, its also perfectly logical that the Chinese government made no effort to inform the public of why Xi disappeared. The health of government leaders is a state secret that must be protected. This does seem to counter Communist doctrine under former leader, Mao Zedong, who made swimming a huge public spectacle when he braved the waters of the mighty Yangtze River to show off his health and leadership strength.

Anyway, staying in bed seems to have worked since Xi finally made a public appearance yesterday in Beijing and, according to one observer, he looked healthy. Although I haven't found anything to corroborate this, I'd bet that his doctor also ordered him to "drink hot water" since that's the Chinese cure for all ailments.

Obama, Biden, Romney, Ryan and all related cronies - please go to bed. Set your alarm clocks for the morning after the election takes place. Think of the benefits - whoever wins will be well-rested, whoever loses can just turn over and go back to sleep and America will undoubtedly be a better place as a result.

Disclaimer: This post involves sarcasm and satire. While I believe in democracy and the American election system, I also believe that presidential campaigns have become a joke and (almost) believe that the Chinese system is better (in some ways). I'm also glad that Mr. Xi is ok and respectfully encourage him to stop swimming in water and keep drinking hot water.

While in Beijing recently for a conference, I visited the 798 Art District (798 艺术区),  an interesting area of eclectic galleries and shops housed in some interesting old buildings.

Strange art in Beijing