It’s a sunny day in the hutong, cold outside but the sun is shining nicely off the snow packed on the roof of our kitchen and bathroom and reflecting brilliantly into the living room. We moved our plants inside two weeks ago and they are enjoying the sun bath almost as much as the two cats, currently going at it UFC-style for largest patch of sunbeam on the couch.
Much happening in Beijing this week the arrival of two celebrated visitors. President Obama touches down later this week (more on this in a moment), and Richard of The Peking Duck makes his triumphant return to the city of snow and smog after his much lamented mid-summer departure.
Lots has also been made of Qin Gang’s ill-advised historical analogizing. Many Chinese netizens (the usual suspects) are applauding the Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s linkage of the CCP’s handling of the Tibet with the President Lincoln and the American Civil War. Others, perhaps with a little more nuance and perspective, are questioning the wisdom of Qin Gang. China watchers are used to daft historical statements made by cadres and officials for domestic Chinese consumption, but this was the Foreign Ministry trying to make a bid for sympathy from the international media, and it’s shocking that the FM, an increasingly slick operation, could take such a big swing and miss. I think it goes to show that in matters of borderland minorities the ideological blinkers remain firmly in place even among the more outward looking of Chinese officialdom.
(I will say, not so much in defense of Qin Gang but so as to avoid the appearance of piling on after the play has been whistled dead, that there IS a worthwhile history lesson to be drawn between CCP policy and the American Civil War..the next time somebody complains about the PRC refusing to rule out a first strike in the event of declared Taiwanese independence, just lean over and whisper “Fort Sumter.” I’m not saying it’s a perfect parallel, but it’s a helluva lot better than Qin Gang’s addle-minded example this week. For God’s sake, his words sounded like they fed him three bottles of Robitussin DM, spun him around three times, and then sent him out to do the briefing…OK, now I’m piling on.)
But looking ahead…President Obama’s visit is good news for the cottage industry of Sino-US relations experts as all the major media outlets prepare their “state of the relationship” pieces in advance of the three-day Hubama smackdown. For the record, Andrew Browne of the Wall Street Journal wins the “Chinese history cliché trifecta” for managing to squeeze Zheng He, Qianlong/Macartney, and Mao into the same think piece.
From my own perspective, the relationship could be better. Those who are advocating a “get tough with China policy” might want to consider the lessons of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. When they first hooked up, Timberlake was just one of several N’Sync’ers trying to make a name for himself beyond boybandom. You had no idea which way it was going to go…five years out he could be a pop superstar or he could be the second lead in the Orlando Community Theater production of Rent. She on the other hand, thanks to America’s latent schoolgirl porn obsession and a producer who had a deft hand with the autotune, was a global icon. Then she gets ideas, breaks his heart, and inspires him to single-handedly crush her spirit with the best kiss-off song in decades “Cry Me a River.” We all know how this played out over the next decade.
(By the way my alternative analogy involved Jon Gosselin. Let’s just say I’m not optimistic about the way the Sino-US relationship is going, especially for my side of the equation. Best I move on…)
Finally, the nuttiest sideshow to President Obama’s visit has to be the ongoing ‘controversy’ over the sale of ObaMao t-shirts in Beijing.* YJ and I had a little disagreement about the ObaMao t-shirts when she suggested we buy a few as gifts for when we go back to the US for Christmas. She thought they were cute and kitschy. I was worried about being mistaken for the kind of people currently wearing such shirts back in the US.
Mao aside, Good analysis of what Obama means for your average person in China comes courtesy of Adam Mintner (Shanghai Scrap) in the Atlantic.
As for me, I doubt I’ll get lucky enough to meet the President. (Why is it that whenever a Chinese official touches down overseas, Chinese students are bused in and allowed to greet their visiting leader like the Beatles at JFK circa 1964 but Obama’s being treated like the boy in the bubble?) One of my colleagues whose wife works for the US Embassy is trying to finagle a way to attend the Embassy reception next Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully, I’ll be able to restrain my inner bitterness and cover his field trip for him. We’ll see.
Until then.
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*The second silliest has to be the debate between the State Department and Xinhua over how to transliterate “Obama” into Chinese.