I haven’t read the book in years, so memory might fail, but I seem to recall a line (perhaps the opening line) from William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer: “The sky was the color of a tv set turned to a dead station.”
Such is Beijing.
Beijing has announced ’special environmental measures’ that can be implemented on an ad hoc basis including the closing of 100 more factories, the extension of odd/even automobile restrictions in Tianjin and Hebei province, and a new numbering system in Beijing allowing only those cars whose number ends with the same digit as the date to cruise the streets. The air was marginally better the past few days, with some rain and a decent breeze, but more and more it looks like, despite all the precautions taken and policies enforced, it will come down to whichever way the wind decides to blow–not exactly what you want to bet on if you’re planning a major international event broadcast live around the world.
Unfortunately, there are other PR disasters which loom darker than the Beijing sky. After months of promising (kind of) unfettered internet access for journalists covering the Olympics, BOCOG got out the vaseline and royally screwed Jacques Rogge. Officals inside the IOC admit that they reached a quiet agreement acquiescing to Chinese government demands to keep certain sites off-limits. Is it possible to be shocked and completely unsurprised at the same time? Interesting to note that much of the vitriol in the press seems to be directed at the IOC for a) believing the Chinese government might actually agree to give up its precious control over information and b) coming out of this mess looking like incompetent amateurs with the left hand not knowing what the right hand was up to. Needless to say, other promises made regarding media access are now open to question, interpretation, and the inane parsing of Sun Weide.
Speaking of secrets, a South Korean film crew managed to sneak into the Bird’s Nest to film snippets of last week’s big dress rehearsal for the opening ceremonies. Why am I thinking that this is going to be the CCTV New Year’s Gala with a bigger budget and even less sense of irony? Mysteries abound though the fenqing have already taken to the web calling for a boycott of South Korean goods.
Finally, yet more bizarre and patronizing ‘advice’ for Beijing’s residents was handed out today:
There should be no more than three color groups in your clothing, the book published by Zheng’s committee advises, and wearing pajamas and slippers to visit neighbors, as some elderly Beijing residents like to do, is also out. It recommends dark-colored socks, and says white socks should never be worn with black leather shoes…
The book advises that there should be no public displays of affection, feet should be slightly apart or in the shape of a V or Y when standing, and a handshake should not last more than three seconds.
Apart from everything else, the way this advice (and the previous set of instructions on what not to ask foreigners) is conceived betrays a fatuously anachronistic view of the world as being divided by nei/wai, Chinese/foreign, as if ‘foreign’ was an actual category of humanity. Moreover, this simplistic dichotomy of inner/outer seems at odds with the Olympic spirit and the explicit goal of presenting Beijing to the world as a cosmopolitan and international city. Other commentators have noted that the ‘foreign manners’ presented by the book as the definitive guide for Beijingers’ interactions with the other five billion people on the planet seem to be based primarily on somebody’s interpretation of northern European or even specifically Anglo-American sensibilities. God only knows where it comes from. If somebody told me that the writers of the book had watched Wuthering Heights 99 times and took notes I wouldn’t be that surprised.
No matter the subtext though, these campaigns are simply annoying and dumb. First, ‘foreigners’ aren’t a special class of person who need to be handled with kid gloves. We’re not going to turn to jelly when the guy who drives the van asks how much our watch costs. Second, Beijingers, with the exception of those actually between the ages of three and five, are not in kindergarten. Let adults dress the way they want and who gives a damn what Bobby Sue and Jimmy Joe think.
You gotta love BOCOG: They worry that Beijingers standing with their feet at wrong angles might give the impression that China is not a ‘modern nation,’ but they see nothing wrong with blocking websites that present alternative viewpoints to the the Party line. It’s like the guy at the party walking around with his fly hanging wide open, asking everybody if his tie is crooked.
res ipsa loquitur.
I think you slightly misstated the new traffic rules. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection website, only cars with license plate numbers ending with the same number as the day of the month on which the emergency measures are implemented will be prohibited from driving. The Wall Street Journal estimates that this should reduce traffic by another 10 per cent.
凡机动车号牌尾号与应急措施当日日期尾号相同的，暂停行驶
Yeah, I said “allowing only those cars whose number ends with the same digit as the date to cruise the streets” and that such measures can be implemented on an ad hoc basis.
Perhaps I should have phrased that more clearly. Thanks for providing the Chinese text as well. It’s always good to go back to the source.
Cheers.
[...] sky was the color of a tv set turned to a dead station.’ Such is Beijing.” [...]
that sad thing is that this sort of wenming OCD probably will make a lot of foreign tourists happier. or rather, not doing that sort of manners drive would probably make a lot of them bitch and moan about china.
honestly, they’re screwed either way, PR-wise. if they go all police state miss manners, they get slammed for being creepily authoritarian. if they just let it all hang out, they’d get dinged for being dirty/chaotic/uncivilized. we’re in an undeclared cold war, and the press will find something to badmouth china over.
not that it isn’t all incredibly wrong-headed. but then i’m such a 不文明 土包子 that i actually liked the old spitting, fanning bare bellies beijing.
The fools are just setting the stage for more intense criticism of the Chinese government when the Games begin, as foreign journalists will come primed for that kind of reporting.
There must be some sort of debate going on within the government, and unfortunately, the control freaks are winning it. I wonder who exactly is on each side, and whether the almost inevitable bad feeling the Games will create will result in a political backlash after they’re over within the party.
We can hope.
Props for using the Neuromancer line, that’s one of my favourite books.
Keep up the good work Jeremiah, your writings are the best, most accurate, and most entertaining coverage of this lead-up. My friends and I who have recently returned from studying in Beijing all agree.
Cheers.
I agree there’s a damned if they do, damned it they don’t situation here. I understand the rationale, but I think its interesting that China’s government cares so much about these issues and has for a long time.
Sam G,
Good point regarding the internal debate, all the signs do indeed point to differing views on a range of Olympic issues both inside and among BOCOG, the Beijing municipal government, and the Central government.
I’d love to know how this is shaking out behind closed doors.
Cooper,
Thanks for the encouragement and I was sure to add your blog to my RSS feed.
Cheers.
“I agree there’s a damned if they do, damned it they don’t situation here.”
Yes, but one very much of their own creation.
But do they really care, I wonder? I suspect the answer is no, so long as they receive the accolade of ‘best Olympiad ever’, which they surely will in spite of all the ways Beijing has failed to organise a Games in the Olympic spirit.
The IOC need a new pair of testicles, el rapido.
Actually, I think it’s nice they promote some colour coordination in dress (like the white socks, black shoes). As for visiting neighbours in pjs, meh.
But your analogy of tie and flies implies that the CCP should have the same value set vis a vis etiquette and censorship, which they of course don’t.
No, they don’t. Which is the larger point. They want to be seen as a modern, international city but have little idea as to what that might mean in the eyes of those they seek to impress.
Sad, really.