Chinese dream

Each generation of Chinese leadership adopts a mantra that is designed to represent the spirit of that administration. It becomes a refrain during speeches and public statements. Hu Jintao extolled the dual virtues of "scientific development" and a "harmonious society," highlighting the need in the last decade for expansion in Chinese science and technology, and use of that R&D in managing an increasingly connected and demanding citizenship.

In that last decade, China has risen to become the world's 2nd biggest economy, with the world's greatest number of internet users, and largest number of mobiles phones in use: 1.22 billion. Against the backdrop of China's well-publicized problems with pollution, human rights, and other issues, there is much for the leadership to be excited about as the "Chinese miracle" pushes ahead. In this spirit, it would seem, Xi Jinping has begin to use the phrase, "the Chinese dream," as his administration's calling card earlier in 2013.

"The Chinese dream" is a cryptic message with different resonances. Riffing on the dreams of other countries, such as America, how might the Chinese dream compare? One thing is clear: whereas previous leaders have emphasized more practical, pragmatic language and present change, Xi's dream is about a better future.

Construction sites are ubiquitous all over China, and Beijing is no exception. The markings on protective walls surrounding these sites are managed by local propaganda departments for display of advertisements suggesting slogans and other messages: right now, it's "the Chinese dream." When I first saw these go up earlier in the autumn of 2013, I was impressed how minimally clean and tasteful the design was, as opposed to the Hu administration's busy and less thoughtful aesthetic.

The above writing in large characters could be translated as "wish luck to the motherland," with an image filial piety accompanying to the right. Ian Johnson's analysis of the Chinese dream propaganda in the New York Review of Books points out how propaganda these days is moving from an emphasis on Communist to more traditional, Confucian values that were vilified just years before:

The difference is that while the old posters touted Communist values, the new ones largely replace them with pre-Communist Chinese traditions—drawing on traditional folk art like paper cutouts, woodblock prints, and clay figurines to illustrate their message. This is a redefinition of the state’s vision from a Marxist utopia to a Confucian, family-centric nation, defined by a quiet life of respecting the elderly and saving for the future.

Why move from espousing political values and instead emphasize traditional culture in Party imagery and language? Johnson explains the value in having the two blend together:

Almost all the art used in the posters, with its depictions of traditional dress and poses, used to be derided by the Party as belonging to China’s backward, pre-Communist past; now, these aesthetic traditions are a bulwark used to legitimize the Party as a guardian and creator of the country’s hopes and aspirations. 

One of the most interesting posters is the above, zhong guo hao qi! literally, "nice move, China!" The image is of two children playing chess. As Johnson observes, the major question here is: what is the nature of the game that China is winning? Who is the opponent?

It is easy to read especially the above as thought engineering, but to be honest it seems like most locals at least in Beijing pay very little regard. Whereas folks outside China might envision millions of Beijingers wandering city streets, eyes agog as the brainwash takes them over, Johnson's blog shows many of these posters are viewed cynically, some even defaced and ripped--a high crime that, if the vandal was caught, would certainly lead to detention or worse. Especially as a foreigner, it's easy to read the "good move, China" poster as an statement of China's aggressive intentions to "win the game," be it international diplomacy or a more domestic concern. I would instead look at it as a representation of Party neurosis that the government feels the need to manufacture a reality they are not certain is actually happening. As Jonathan Spence writes, "modern China" has not yet arrived, but the search is underway, with many trying to shape what that place may be, in word and action.

绕口令

raokouling is how you say "tongue twister" in Chinese, which I learned after wee how easy it was for my 8 year olds to say "toy boat" 10 times fast. I usually can't get past 3-4 times speaking as fast as possible. "Sally sells sea shells by the seashore" was very tricky. The sh- blend and s- sound are both used in Mandarin, however many dialects switch sh- for s- or don't pronounce sh- altogether--making Sally's story a multilingual mouth masher.

马上

Horse year is here, and we're so excited that the 17-foot long poster on our wall proclaiming 马到成功--"when the horses are here, success comes with them"--is now more relevant than ever. A lot of advertisements are using the word 马上, which means something like "immediately" but, if you literally translate the two characters, is read as "on a horse"... like when someone in sports or at work tells you to "get on your horse" and hurry up.

CONTRADICTION: iPhone dominoes

China is a developing country. Hundreds of millions of people here live in rural poverty with limited access to basic necessities.

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http://bit.ly/1j88jmi

What is as crazy as spending all that money on all those phones is then posting it online with a "Happy Holidays" greeting expecting... what response? Why the choice of English? Easier to domino than Chinese characters?

CONTRADICTION: Foreigner feelings

Dudes in Chinese gyms go pretty hard, but none go harder than the oldest guys. It's literally the 60-70 year old bracket that I see constantly pushing sets to failure, sweating their brains out, and really letting out some noise when pushing out their reps. Oddly, when lifting weights, there is little or no spotting (I've often considered why: face? concerns about manliness? just unaware of the practice? there are coaches walking around the gym but don't seem to help out unless they are getting paid for 1-on-1 training). I needed a spot and called her over to help me in case I was going to drop the bar on my head. As I was doing the set and giving some instruction, a couple of guys who were there working out together were looking on, seeing what this spotting thing was all about. It seemed like having a girl being the one giving the spot was of special interest. Although they had been working out for a half-hour on the bench press and other exercises, neither one of them had been watching out for the other; right after we were done, they waited for us to walk away to change weights and gave spotting a try. Within a half-hour, I saw 3 other sets of people helping themselves with spots on other benches.

It's cool and fun to see this kind of knowledge dispersed in real time. I don't know if "knowledge dispersal" is even the right term. Maybe these dudes already knew about spotting, and seeing two foreign people do it gave it the imprimateur of, "OK, I guess this spotting idea is legit" or "oh, that's how you spot someone." You take for granted the Phys Ed classes in middle school where most American kids learn about this stuff, about how to lead not only a healthy lifestyle but also how to exercise properly and effectively. China is developing so fast, and the involvement of foreigners isn't important just for building English skills, taking international technology, or the other stuff you see in the news. There are just so many "best practices" in so many areas of life in China where there is room for sharing--for education and exchange. And there is a genuine respect, appreciation, excitement among folks here to learn more about other cultures.

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It is often observed that there is not a lot of love lost between China and Japan. Politically, right now the two countries are at odds over a number of issues: Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, Japan's prime minister visiting WWII shrines commemorating war criminals. On an individual basis, people are people, and many locals I know have great friendships with Japanese expats here in Beijing. I think there is a difference between urban China and rural China, where less exposure to foreigners as real people means that people are more susceptible to influence from movies and TV. And Chinese CCTV certainly does not help to quell any negative feelings. From Murong Xuecun in NYT yesterday:

The state prohibits content that “incites ethnic hatred,” yet according to Southern Weekly more than 70 anti-Japanese TV series were screened in China in 2012. And in March 2013 the newspaper reported that 48 anti-Japanese-themed TV series were being shot simultaneously in Hengdian World Studios, a film studio in Zhejiang Province, in eastern China.

There is no doubt that anti-foreign nationalism is a key component of how the CCP has chosen to define Chineseness--which is weird, given the myriad ways Chinese people I see in Beijing both respect and seek out foreigners as friends, sometimes primarily for practical purposes like English learning, but many times simply because they're curious. That the government has chosen to define a group of people not for what they are, but for what they are not--"we are not Japan, we are not the West"--leads to the confusion behind what Jonathan Spence calls "the search for modern China." Negative definitions of things don't really lend any clarity to a thing's true nature. It's kind of like Boston Red Sox culture--there is none. The Yankees all shave? We'll have handlebar mustaches. They're elitist snobs? Red Sox are dudes of the people. It's not "Red Sox culture," it's "not-Yankees culture." As China culturally and politically regains some confidence lost during the "100 years of humiliation," it will be interesting to see if so much anti-foreign nationalism remains in politics.

不亦乐乎

bu yi le hu: Short for, "you pengzi yuan fang lai, bu yi le hu," the first sentence of Confucius' Analects, perhaps the most famous of all classical Chinese books. Translation would read something like, "Isn't it a pleasure when friends visit from afar"--prompting the values of hospitality to outsiders that you'll see in common folks whenever you visit China. Thinking these days of my incredible experience on the BYLH crew back in 2010... www.booeylehoo.org

孀

shuang: Another gorgeous histogram: the main portion, to the right, can mean either a winter's frost, or a coating or covering of whiteness, as in either cosmetics or, say, cake frosting. The smaller piece on the left, the "woman radical," indicates that this character should have something to do with ladies. Used together, these two pieces are pronounced shuang, first tone, the Mandarin word for "widow."