Is the West impossible to please?
An interesting conversation unfolded on Meg’s blog post about China Visa problems. Commenter CnInDC offered a well-argued explanation of the root cause of work visa limitations in both countries.
But one thing he (or she) shared helped me understand the feelings that some Chinese people must have:
I agree that the current visa “crackdown” was caused by security concerns about the Olympics. If you watch news in China you’ve probably already noticed that the China’s domestic Olympic propaganda has been dramatically toned down from wanting a most successful Olympic to a merely safe one. The reality is there, that a most successful Olympic is already beyond our reach. The people they wanted to impress the most, the western media and the general public from the western countries, are impossible to please. So they go for the next best one, that at least it’s safe, no ugly scenes (or at least not a major one), and the Chinese can enjoy the party all by themselves. I’ve heard this before from the Chinese people around me and think it may have a point: “大不了办成全运会”, or, “At least we can turn this into a national sports event”.
Photos from my visit to see the Good Luck Games in May:
It reminded me of this poem entitled “My Friends, What Do You Want From Us” I saw earlier in April on China Digital Times (also on China Herald) from cbc forums via C’est la vie blog:
What do you want from us?
When we were called “sick man of Asia”, we were called peril.
When we billed to be the next superpower, we’re called the threatWhen we closed our doors, you smuggled drugs to open markets.
when we embrace free trade, you blame us for taking away your jobs.when we’re falling apart, you marched in your troops and wanted your fair share.
when we’re putting the broken pieces together, “Free Tibet” you screamed! “it was invasion.”So we tried communism, you hated us for being communist.
So we embraced capitalism, you hate us for being capitalist,Then we have a billion people, you said we’re destroying the planet.
Then we limit our numbers, you said it was human rights abuses.When we were poor, you think we’re dogs,
When we loan you cash, you blamed us for your debts.When we build our industries, you called us polluters.
When we sell you goods, you blamed us for global warming,
When we buy oil, you called that exploitation and genocide.When we were lost in chaos and rampage, you wanted rule s of laws for us.
When we uphold law and order against violence, you called that violation of human rights.When we were silent, you said you want us to have free speech.
When we were silent no more, you say we were brainwashed.Why do you hate us so much? We asked. “No”. You answered, “we don’t hate you”.
We don’t hate you either Bud, do you understand us?? “of course we do”, you said, “We have CNN, BBC, and CBC”.But why, we still feel, your western people are not happy with us.
What do you really want from us??
My friend, What do you really want from us??
There is plenty of angry rhetoric from people who take extremist political positions on China on the China Digital Times post. There is also some extremely thoughtful points there too. Please read that comment thread first before posting some extreme rant (either highly critical of China or highly defensive against perceived criticism of China) that has already been said over there.
I propose we just take the time to try to understand the feeling expressed in the poem above and figure out how we can all take this feeling into account in our behavior with each other.
(Why am I posting this? I figured this poem would be hard to find in the future and wanted to just capture it on the blog where I know I could find it)
7 Responses to “Is the West impossible to please?”
Ugh..the fallacies are overwhelming…
I know there’re times that Chinese people sounds way too defensive. If someone criticized China one could immediately jump on countering with the examples of the similar things had happened in the US or elsewhere in the world. But look at this differently, deep down the message is not that China is always correct, but China is not that DIFFERENT. Why is this message important? Because the majority of the western opinions are focused on how China is so different, communist, depressive, 1984 orwellian, etc etc, while we see us as fairly normal country, with a little bit specialties here and there, but dare you would be the same if put in the similar situation.
Many China observers take great pain to depict the bizarre differences, and seldom take time to digest the similarities and the contexts. That’s where the communications break.
There is a very good Chinese saying: 一山不容二虎 or “one mountain cannot have two tigers”. Of course, western critics of China cannot come out and say that: it would unmask them as hypocrites who want to completely dominate the world without any opposing views, or challenges to their domination.
That’s why all the criticism.
However, there is a great deal of validity to their criticism, especially re development, environment, etc.
The mature way for the Chinese to look at the criticism is to look at the criticism, but ignore the critics. So far, the Chinese have fallen into the trap of taking the criticism way too personally. The Chinese don’t have a tradition of separating the message from the messenger; now is the time to learn that skill.
The criticisms should stand or fall on their own merits, and the Chinese should act accordingly. That is the best and smartest way to deal with the western critics.
The idea of “the west” as a cohesive group seems to be the reason why “they” are impossible to please. Lumping so many people, with so many different values, religions, nationalities, priorities, etc., into one group has to make that group impossible to please.
Well, different opinions surely exist in the “west” but there’s no doubt that the general tendency is quite negative towards China. We don’t need to rely on the poll numbers to know this. Just a few personal encounters:
1. Several years ago I was walking on the main street of a plain looking town in the middle of the New Mexico desert. A perfectly friendly guy who if labeled should be a “redneck” came over and said hello, then asked, “Are you from China?” then went on telling me “There’s going to be a war between US and China and we are gonna win it” because “China is still communist, isn’t it?”
2. All the “Free Tibet” labels we see attached to the young and trendy generation.
3. China bashing on all public channels, quite popular and safe these days, and apparently generated a lot of concerns. My colleagues asked me if my parents and relatives are safe back home.
It’s unfortunate that the most ignorant on both sides seem to be the loudest, and it’s going to take time for these views to change.
In the western media, this is going to change when people who have actually lived in another country, and speak a foreign language, sit at editors’ desks. It’s an unfortunate fact that those who know less have the bigger megaphones.
In China, it’s the reverse. Those who sit at editors’ desks most frequently do speak a foreign language and may even have lived in a foreign country. But what they can say is limited because of their government affiliations. This accounts for the rise of the fenqing, who think that the Chinese government-controlled media does not push back enough against some of the wilder statements of the western media.
The more measured and nuanced voices of those who have actually lived in China generally have a hard time getting heard, but blogging is a very valuable tool. The situation is gradually improving.