Rage against the dying of the light

or just post some love on yer blog and send it through the underground.

i remember telling some young Chinese friends about the Tank Man in Tiananmen and they all laughed at me and said it was a piece of CIA propaganda. I think for everybody who does not live in China, the image of the lone bespectacled middle manager forcing the tanks to swerve around him was probably one of the most moving images of our lives. I will never forget it. It is sad and horrible that his sacrifice is meaningless in the land he loves.

And it is one of the largest jumps across the chasm of mis-communication between us. How can young Chinese understand us if they lack the essential info that we take for granted? How can we understand them if we speak to them in a language of images that they have never seen?

everyone of these links are blocked in China.

this one some how made it through.

如果有中国朋友在看这个blog，我希望你们也有办法看到这个中国英雄。这样，也可以明白为什么外国人必需说哪么多。对我们来说,“他们”的目标是让我们变傻，不了解自己，无法勾通。

And in parting, i would like to say i am proud to be a broke ass member of the "Right but Poor" club.

Benedict Wang?

Its hard work being a thinker in China. I spoke with a young Chinese friend of mine the other day about the indoctrination of students and the amazement with which the West contemplates pro-government, hysterically patriotic young people. Something we have little or no experience in, since the end of WWII.

She said:

"It is very horrible for us, our own media wants us to be sheep and the rest of the world either won't believe anything we say or considers us brainwashed. I am not stupid!"

Most people over 40 here are capable of thinking critically about their government and about life in general. They have seen all the bullshit, probably been on the receiving end of it as well. Most students are coddled from birth to age 24, whereupon they are inserted (hopefully) into the family-company sphere from which they will never break out. Young women become controlling mothers, young men become passive fathers. The values of a traditional society are: stability, security and providing for your children.

Most young women here are governed by their mothers. Mothers who focus all of their energy (now that dad has been subdued) onto the daughter's future.

One more quick observation:

The majority of Chinese students abroad have little or nothing to do with the people of the country in which they are studying. They stay amongst Chinese and basically gain the skills and knowledge necessary to make money in China. This attitude is reinforced from home and from the community at large. "We Chinese, for China!"

The few who do slip into different cultures are often treated as quasi-traitors or possibly even (if they are female) as whores.

It is a scary mixture of the Asian ability to become the Borg and the Western ability to nationalize the individual.

in case you aint heard II

After spending some quality time with large numbers of the youth of this nation last weekend, I have a few thoughts i must convey:

if China is looking to be a superpower, to whom would they look for examples of what to do?

Both US and Chinese education systems indoctrinate the youth. In america we have more choices, this is one big social difference. The american system was designed to turn immigrants into americans. The chinese system is designed to make everybody chinese. i think it is clear that the chinese system has had more success.

the kids here have it rough. they get up at 630am and stay in school until 11pm. thats right ya'll. 11. they go to school from 730am to 6pm on saturdays and from 5pm to 9pm on sundays. they get one sunday a month off. this year the may holiday, normally one week, has been officially shortened to one day.

They study all sorts of things we dont and naturally their math and sciences are incomprehensible to the average american student. only a fraction of the society makes it to high school and from that only a fraction pass the tests to get into college. its not the money, its the tests. imagine having tests that are designed to prevent a large swath of society from advancing because there are not enough spaces in the universities. There may be some cutthroat action going on, but from what i have seen and heard, high school classmates are bonded by shared suffering.

They react as one sometimes, know and love the innermost secrets of each other, have nicknames, all agree on who sings the best, who is the most handsome, who sleeps too much, who is a punkass and who is the flower. those people also wholeheartedly sing, smile, sleep and cause trouble so as to maintain balance and solidarity in the face of hardship.

The past few days, CNN's coverage of the Olympics has gained widespread coverage in the chinese media and sarkovy's snubbing of the opening ceremonies has pissed someone off. an SMS has been sweeping the area calling for all patriots to boycott Carrefour (french supermarket) on May 1st. Today an article appeared in the Chengdu Daily ridiculing the link between Carrefour and patriotism, reminding the people that the Olympics are not political and patriotism is best expressed other ways then closing your pocketbook.

People here are thinking about the whole China vs. the world issue and they are calm, bewildered and resigned about it. Life is more important than this type of shit, most people be thinking. They also lack a lot of information. The netbars around schools have firewalls more robust than your average internet spot. in my conversations with my chinese homies, i keep silent with those whose emotions take over and speak with respect to those who want to understand. I try my best to be an ambassador of friendship and peace. several of my antiwar columns have been branded as racist. but as with anywhere you grow attached to, i have a love-hate relationship with this spot.

today, by the way, was one beautiful day in Chengdu. and i am about to go get me some hot pot. word to skip james.