The Current Climate as I See It

I want to write something about the current political climate in China, from my experience and from talking to other foreigners and Chinese people. I am not much of a writer, and my paragraphs may ramble a bit, but bear with me - there is some logic in there somewhere

The issues in Tibet and the resultant fallout have thrown up a lot of dust and brought a lot of sentiments to the forefront, some of these positive, in my point of view, however a lot are negative.

To give some context, I was never terribly interested in politics at home. I did vote, of course, as I think people should exercise that right. Coming to China, and being held back by government policy, however, brings politics to the fore for many foreigners. For example, not being able to access certain websites, or being restricted from going to certain places and saying certain things gets annoying, and as a result, a lot of foreigners like to have a good old whinge about the Chinese government.

Most Chinese people tell me that they are not very political. They don’t care because the government gives them what they need – they can get an education, maybe get a good job, have adequate transport and health care. I can probably say that I was in the same boat at hone. I had what I needed, so was never that much interested in politics. I can understand their logic – why should they care about politics, if, in their eyes, it doesn’t affect them? Also, some of them tell me that they don’t really like the Party here.

Little do they know that a lot of their decisions and actions are however, politically motivated. After the riots in Tibet and parts of Sichuan province, a lot of anti-Tibetan sentiments started spreading. I don’t know who started these rumours, but the rumours took fairly strongly and I think that the effect of these rumours (i.e. to tarnish the name of Tibetans) still remains. I think a lot of people in Chengdu are wary and afraid of Tibetans. Tibetans have taken on a similar reputation to the Travelling community back in Ireland. The Chinese media regularly blasts the Dalai Lama, saying he instigated the violent riots in Tibetan areas and saying that he wants to split Tibet from China. These claims, the Dalai Lama completely refutes. They don’t seem to have produced any evidence to support their claims, but many, maybe most Han Chinese people agree with this view or at least have a very negative view of the Dalai Lama. The media in other countries doesn’t go out of its way to blast the guy, so people don’t have the same, extreme viewpoint. The disruption to the Olympic torch relay in Paris, including the attempt to forcefully snatch the torch from a disabled athlete, and the presentation to the Dalai Lama of the freedom of the city of Paris, prompted “netizens” in China to instigate a boycott of French shops and French goods. Wow, a protest in China. Well, the government said it encourages its citizens not to use these means to express their discontent, but didn’t ban the activities. Last week, I overheard a Chinese person saying, “o, aren’t we supposed to boycott Carrefour this May holiday?” Well, these “non-political” people have suddenly made a political decision based on peer-pressure and patriotism. I know that a lot of people can get swept up in crazes and jump on bandwagons, e.g. the “free Tibet” crowd in the west, who probably don’t even know where Tibet is; however, it seems a lot stronger in China, especially with the widespread use of the internet.

It is a little disturbing in the way that the youth of China are motivated to act in sometimes extreme ways, on the behalf of patriotism. There was a story of a Chinese student in the USA, who took part in a pro-Tibet rally there. Chinese netizens allegedly started a man-hunt for this girl, who ended up needing police protection. It seems that there isn’t a lot of room for straying from the Party line in China. After the “new” finding that some western media had printed biased stories about China emerged, a lot of Chinese who claimed non-interest in politics put Love China in the personal message on their Instant Messengers (MSN, QQ, etc.). Here we go again with the patriotism. I have no problem with expressing love for one’s country, but this sort of snap-behaviour is all too common here.

Well, it’s no real wonder why people here behave like this. It seems to me that the government’s main interest in China is to keep control of its 1.4 billion citizens, by whatever means that seems appropriate to them. The gov tells the people that it need to do it this way, otherwise some groups would cause trouble and break the country apart and so China couldn’t develop. Indeed, there is logic in this point, and I can see why the gov here does it. The thing is, however, that most Han Chinese are blissfully aware of the opinions or plights of some of the people in the country, notably the Tibetans and Xinjiang people. I don’t have any first-hand experience of the feelings of those people, but from talking to other foreigners, it seems that most Tibetans don’t have a favourable opinion about Han Chinese and their government, ditto for Xinjiang people. Why don’t the Hans know? Maybe for 2 reasons: 1, the government wouldn’t publicise this information and 2, these people would be afraid to tell a Han their real feelings. It would be interesting to see what would happen if the people of China did actually know what some of the minority groups thought of the government. People’s opinions have been moulded, and as a result, these types of actions and responses are subconscious.

Since, I am Irish, I am all too aware of the problems in Northern Ireland – Catholics and Protestant kicking the shit out of each other for years. Now, there is peace in NI. Why? Because people talked to each other, and gave something. They might have had to lose some face and settle for something contra to their ideals, but they did it and people seem happier in Northern Ireland now. I talked to a Chinese person yesterday, telling her about NI and my opinion that if the people there are happy, then I am happy, that all this ideology about countries can sometimes be used as a propaganda tool. She said she was confused – all the education that she had received was contra to this, that people should unequivocally love their motherland. She found it hard to grasp that Northern Ireland could actually be left to itself and that people might be happier that way. This is a contrast to the Chinese gov view of its territories and claimed territories – it’s ours so we will take it. Did they ever think of asking the people in Taiwan or Tibet what they actually thought? Allowing the people who actually live there to have a say. The concept sees alien.

People in China have received an education designed by the government (as in all countries), however there isn’t much room for having a different view from the party line, and people are not really encouraged to think, they are not so-much encouraged to look for different sources of information, e.g. foreign news. Well, most people here can’t understand English and a lot of the foreign-run Chinese language news websites are blocked by the government, so it’s increasingly difficult for people here to see another viewpoint on the situation. For the May holiday, I had planned to go to Kangding, a half-Tibetan town for a cycling/camping trip. To cut a long story short, we were told we had to go back since foreigners were not allowed into the area. It is fine for Chinese to go in, but not us foreigners. Why? Some reasons given by our Chinese co-travellers included safety and the fact that foreigners might report some untrue things! As for the safety issue, if it is a genuine concern, than this shows that the Chinese gov doesn’t care so much about the safely of its people. As for the second excuse, it just shows the typical mentality of the government – we will not accept other views and are not open to criticism. Wake up, media ha been writing less than neutral accounts for hundreds of years. To diverge a little, I am happy that Chinese netizens have pointed out biased reporting in foreign media (the BBC often uses loaded statements when reporting about China). However, it is not a new thing. The timing of this slating of the western media by Chinese media seemed to happen at a very convenient time. Just as China was under fire from foreign media, the Chinese tell its people not to trust the foreign media because their reports are distorted. Not just a coincidence methinks. To actually come back to my original point, the people in China have been listening to this type of rhetoric for years, so accept it as fact. I’m not saying we are not influenced by the media – of course we are – our environment makes us who we are. However, a lot of people will actually use their heads and not blindly believe what they see or hear.

As China rises in the world, it has to face the consequence and take a mature standpoint. Countries like the US and Britain have been on the receiving end of criticism for years. They deal with it. Criticism from outside is a new thing for China, and so far they haven’t dealt well with it. A lot of the time, they try and use the same rhetoric to foreigners as they use to their own people – but it just doesn’t work. I hope China and other countries can learn from these recent incidents and co-operate in a more mature manner. This might result in a loss of face for someone, but I think the end result will make more people happier

I hope the Olympics go well for China. It will give Chinese people a lot of pride. They have poured a lot into these games, and I hope when the dust settles after the games, that a lot of positive things will have happened. I welcome the fact that a huge country like China is growing in power; it gives the world another voice apart from the western powers. However, I hope they can grow in a fair and open way.

If any Chinese people read this, I hope they don’t take it to heart. Government and country are separate entities, and I am not merely saying these things just to criticise. I hope it is constructive criticism. I also love China and it’s people, but disagree in some of the ways the government chooses to run the country. In Ireland, people complain about the government every day – in their homes and workplaces as well as in the media. I think its healthier that way.