Michael Meyer, author of one of my favorite books about Beijing, was kind enough to spend some time on Sunday night talking with the students in my program. You could tell he’s given this talk a few times, and it was funny, polished, and informative. The students loved it. They’re all undergraduates from different colleges and universities in the United States, and for many of them this is their first time abroad. Not only did Michael give them some great background information on the transformations of Beijing over the past few years, but I think it was his enthusiasm to get out there and explore, to try and find new situations to practice Chinese, and to make friends in unexpected places that was just as important a lesson for the students.
It also helps that Michael is a helluva nice guy.
There’s a piece in The Guardian today on the horrific incidents of lead poisoning in a Hunan village, the result of pollution from a factory operated by the Tenda Corporation. It’s a terrible tragedy.
Even worse are the repeated attempts by local officials to intimidate into silence those who are suffering the most, including a busload of victims trying to leave their village in search of medical care. These officials are scum and they deserve to be exposed for the cowards and bullies that they are. Bravo to The Guardian for doing so.
My problem though is with the headline.
“China defends detention of lead poisoning victims who sought medical help.”
As I said, this case is tragic and the response by local and provincial officials has been shocking in its cruelty, but CHINA didn’t defend the detention, it was two local party hacks with a third quote from the regional propaganda office. Of course these hardhearted pleather-toting ernai-loving dimwits are defending their actions, it’s what local officials do.
Sadly, reprehensibly, ’twas ever thus.
But suggesting that the country — or the national government — stands firmly behind these goons is getting ahead of the story. Maybe the central government
Christmas in Montpelier, VT. We’re up here visiting my sister and I have to say…it’s been a nice break from the daily grind of Beijing living. YJ and I are constantly amazed over such commonalities as “pedestrian right of way” and “customer service.”
Having a bit of a break from family to-do’s, we wandered around the downtown area and found ourselves at the Vermont History Museum. $5 per person meant entrance and brochure and as we meandered our way through Abenaki wigwams and farmers cabins, I was struck by how much I had become accustomed to China’s museum culture.
Apart from the obvious (not being reminded every ten minutes to warmly love the Party and the Motherland), I was struck once again how, in the hands of thinking and thoughtful historians, the narrative of history — whether in words, pictures, or artifacts — can give a visitor a greater appreciation for a place and its people even if that narrative includes uncomfortable truths. The entry way to the exhibits is an Abenaki wigwam with information markers describing the horrific fate of those people as European settlers made their way into Vermont during the 17th and 18th centuries. Vermont’s participation in
President Obama is flying to Asia this week with much on his mind: Should the US commit another 40,000 troops to the war in Afghanistan as stories of official incompetence and political corruption leak daily from the capital of Kabul?
If Britain’s curse was her imperial ambitions, the United States has its hegemonic aspirations. We are once again supporting a regime in a country turned hostile against both the United States. Our support is critical to the success of the current Afghan government, but it is that very (and very public) support which may well ultimately doom the administration of Hamid Karzai as it did to Fulgencia Batista or the government of South Vietnam following the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem.
Three simple rules:
In wars of attrition, the longer it lasts the greater the advantage for the home team. No matter how noble a politician may be, the more he depends on an outside force to maintain his position and power, the less legitimate his administration will seem in the eyes of his fellow countrymen. If you have your own people on the ground, listen to them. They’re seeing things you’re not.
All of these rules apply to the
I’ll admit it. I’ve been remiss about writing. Just know that my time has been well spent teaching history and writing dissertations. But when historians go on blogging vacation, it’s history that suffers. Really.
In the US we have the wingnut brigade comparing President Obama’s health care reform plan to the Nazi Holocaust.
Not to be outdone, PRC historian-on-the-job Qin Gang decided that with President Obama not feeling the love at home, he’d welcome him to China by comparing the PLA’s ‘liberation’ of Τibet in 1951 to President Lincoln freeing the slaves. I had to check twice to make sure this wasn’t some kind of Onion story that got accidentally mixed up in the wires.
Nope, he was serious.
I’m the first to admit that Τibet in the early 20th century was hardly a paradise on earth and, like many places in what is today the PRC, people suffered from the depredations of warlord armies, acquisitive foreign powers, and avaricious local elites BUT…
…to compare it to the systematic and brutal enslavement of the African people by European and American slave traders is just preposterous. It is also sadly representative of the kind of tin-eared and muddle-minded approach to history
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A big thanks to author Michael Meyer
Michael Meyer, author of one of my favorite books about Beijing, was kind enough to spend some time on Sunday night talking with the students in my program. You could tell he’s given this talk a few times, and it was funny, polished, and informative. The students loved it. They’re all undergraduates from different colleges and universities in the United States, and for many of them this is their first time abroad. Not only did Michael give them some great background information on the transformations of Beijing over the past few years, but I think it was his enthusiasm to get out there and explore, to try and find new situations to practice Chinese, and to make friends in unexpected places that was just as important a lesson for the students.
It also helps that Michael is a helluva nice guy.