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'Xenophobia' row belies love affair with the West
By Wan Lixin |
May 31, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
RECENTLY there have been several scandals involving foreigners in China, which provoked sentiments that some overseas media interpret as signs of xenophobia.
One noted CCTV anchorman famously said, "The Ministry of Public Security must clean out foreign garbage, arresting foreign thugs, and protect innocent girls..."
But these are extreme cases. Typically Chinese people have been brought up on such Confucian precepts as "being severe to ourselves, while indulgent to the imperfections of others." When dealt with unfairly by our friends, Chinese usually deem this an occasion for introspection.
In this spirit, after the scandal involving Russian expat Oleg Vedernikov - the famous principal cellist of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra who had placed his bare feet almost on the head of a female passenger in the seat ahead on a bullet train - a Xinhua commentary, while condemning Vedernikov's behavior, also wondered if the China soil had been conducive to such misconduct.
It was noted that the Russian, in his verbal exchange in Chinese with the aggrieved woman, showed remarkable facility in his use of common curses and abusive idioms, though his tones were not flawless. Such proficiency cannot be achieved without long exposure and constant practice.
Dare he take similar liberties back in Moscow?
In a similar vein, while we condemn the drunken British tourist who sexually assaulted a local woman in Beijing, we also wish to know if all Chinese girls behave themselves in a way that naturally earns respect and admiration from our foreign friends.
In a commentary on Saturday, I discussed the charm of the anonymous urban existence for migrant workers.
Once freed of the supervision traditionally placed on them by their family, relatives and neighbors, they have only their innate civic virtues to guide them. For the young Russian and the British men, the anonymity of expat life, and the excessively kind treatment they are accustomed to receive, may together induce a sort of megalomania in them. They might be under the illusion of being invulnerable in a no-man's land in China.
There is no denying that it is much easier for the Vedernikovs to live in style in China than for similarly qualified Chinese to survive in the West.
Some years ago while serving with a newspaper I worked with a young Western polisher. Though he had spelling problems and frankly announced that his grammar was poor, he earned three times my salary.
Later, he left the paper, and I learned recently that he now owns several office properties downtown after speculating in Shanghai's property market.
Shanghai used to be known as a paradise for adventurers, but it should be more than that.
We have numerous foreigners in China who earn their bread by honest labor. They, rather than the adventurers, should be rewarded.
Recently the unintentionally incorrect use of the term "French Concession" in a restaurant advertisement sparked a backlash of nationalist sentiments.
We must admit that this sensitivity to the humiliating colonial era is largely a vestige of our middle school indoctrination.
There is no longer a "corrupt Western way of life," which we used to condemn. As a matter of fact, the way a Westerner eats, drinks, moves about, lives, and entertains himself is what the Chinese aspire to today in their quest for prosperity.
Consumerist way
A consumerist way of life has been enshrined as the only life worthy of civilized beings.
A recent article in the Xinmin Evening News reported that a considerable number of passengers on the busy Shanghai-Detroit flight are former auto engineers in Detroit who turned over a new leaf in life with Shanghai GM. In helping to bail out GM, many major Chinese cities have turned themselves into cities of wheels.
Though Wall Street financial professionals have recently suffered a bit of debunking, they are still diligently wooed by Chinese cities vowing to become global financial hubs.
Apparently whether we are suffering from xenophobia is the wrong question. The real question is whether we have been so eager to learn from the West that we are losing ourselves.
A proud Shanghainese likely takes a visitor first to the Bund, then the Lujiazui high-rises, the glittering Nanjing Lu and the shops on Huaihai Lu. How many of them would think of the antiquated old Shanghai town, except for the now Disneyfied Yuyuan Garden?
Respect is earned, not extorted.
No Westerners - or Chinese for that matter - would respect any person who slavishly mimics others while ruthlessly trashing and destroying his own family.
At a session of the Shanghai Forum held over the weekend, an official from the Municipal Development and Reform Commission criticized the luxurious lifestyle of some nouveau riches in using sub-floor heating and laundry driers, since they contribute to Shanghai's energy shortage.
Just a few years ago, the municipal government, ashamed of the Chinese practice of drying their laundry outside their homes, came close to imposing a wholesale ban. The snobbish imitation of Western manners has eaten into our national fabric.
Today in China the most highly regarded language is English, not Chinese.
The most sought-after food and beverage for Chinese youth is junk food from KFC and Coke.
The most expensive intoxicant is not Moutai, though Moutai is very expensive, but Chateau Lafite-Rothschild.
The most expensive handbag is not an embroidered bag, hand woven thread by thread in the traditional style, but a largely machine-fabricated bag called LV, made in sweatshops in the Pearl Delta, but designed by the West. Local styles can still appeal, but only after adaptations to Western tastes, such as Xintiandi.
When we have lost much of our own, we are catching up with the advanced international practice.
One noted CCTV anchorman famously said, "The Ministry of Public Security must clean out foreign garbage, arresting foreign thugs, and protect innocent girls..."
But these are extreme cases. Typically Chinese people have been brought up on such Confucian precepts as "being severe to ourselves, while indulgent to the imperfections of others." When dealt with unfairly by our friends, Chinese usually deem this an occasion for introspection.
In this spirit, after the scandal involving Russian expat Oleg Vedernikov - the famous principal cellist of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra who had placed his bare feet almost on the head of a female passenger in the seat ahead on a bullet train - a Xinhua commentary, while condemning Vedernikov's behavior, also wondered if the China soil had been conducive to such misconduct.
It was noted that the Russian, in his verbal exchange in Chinese with the aggrieved woman, showed remarkable facility in his use of common curses and abusive idioms, though his tones were not flawless. Such proficiency cannot be achieved without long exposure and constant practice.
Dare he take similar liberties back in Moscow?
In a similar vein, while we condemn the drunken British tourist who sexually assaulted a local woman in Beijing, we also wish to know if all Chinese girls behave themselves in a way that naturally earns respect and admiration from our foreign friends.
In a commentary on Saturday, I discussed the charm of the anonymous urban existence for migrant workers.
Once freed of the supervision traditionally placed on them by their family, relatives and neighbors, they have only their innate civic virtues to guide them. For the young Russian and the British men, the anonymity of expat life, and the excessively kind treatment they are accustomed to receive, may together induce a sort of megalomania in them. They might be under the illusion of being invulnerable in a no-man's land in China.
There is no denying that it is much easier for the Vedernikovs to live in style in China than for similarly qualified Chinese to survive in the West.
Some years ago while serving with a newspaper I worked with a young Western polisher. Though he had spelling problems and frankly announced that his grammar was poor, he earned three times my salary.
Later, he left the paper, and I learned recently that he now owns several office properties downtown after speculating in Shanghai's property market.
Shanghai used to be known as a paradise for adventurers, but it should be more than that.
We have numerous foreigners in China who earn their bread by honest labor. They, rather than the adventurers, should be rewarded.
Recently the unintentionally incorrect use of the term "French Concession" in a restaurant advertisement sparked a backlash of nationalist sentiments.
We must admit that this sensitivity to the humiliating colonial era is largely a vestige of our middle school indoctrination.
There is no longer a "corrupt Western way of life," which we used to condemn. As a matter of fact, the way a Westerner eats, drinks, moves about, lives, and entertains himself is what the Chinese aspire to today in their quest for prosperity.
Consumerist way
A consumerist way of life has been enshrined as the only life worthy of civilized beings.
A recent article in the Xinmin Evening News reported that a considerable number of passengers on the busy Shanghai-Detroit flight are former auto engineers in Detroit who turned over a new leaf in life with Shanghai GM. In helping to bail out GM, many major Chinese cities have turned themselves into cities of wheels.
Though Wall Street financial professionals have recently suffered a bit of debunking, they are still diligently wooed by Chinese cities vowing to become global financial hubs.
Apparently whether we are suffering from xenophobia is the wrong question. The real question is whether we have been so eager to learn from the West that we are losing ourselves.
A proud Shanghainese likely takes a visitor first to the Bund, then the Lujiazui high-rises, the glittering Nanjing Lu and the shops on Huaihai Lu. How many of them would think of the antiquated old Shanghai town, except for the now Disneyfied Yuyuan Garden?
Respect is earned, not extorted.
No Westerners - or Chinese for that matter - would respect any person who slavishly mimics others while ruthlessly trashing and destroying his own family.
At a session of the Shanghai Forum held over the weekend, an official from the Municipal Development and Reform Commission criticized the luxurious lifestyle of some nouveau riches in using sub-floor heating and laundry driers, since they contribute to Shanghai's energy shortage.
Just a few years ago, the municipal government, ashamed of the Chinese practice of drying their laundry outside their homes, came close to imposing a wholesale ban. The snobbish imitation of Western manners has eaten into our national fabric.
Today in China the most highly regarded language is English, not Chinese.
The most sought-after food and beverage for Chinese youth is junk food from KFC and Coke.
The most expensive intoxicant is not Moutai, though Moutai is very expensive, but Chateau Lafite-Rothschild.
The most expensive handbag is not an embroidered bag, hand woven thread by thread in the traditional style, but a largely machine-fabricated bag called LV, made in sweatshops in the Pearl Delta, but designed by the West. Local styles can still appeal, but only after adaptations to Western tastes, such as Xintiandi.
When we have lost much of our own, we are catching up with the advanced international practice.
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