Shanghai and Hong Kong

I’m going to combine Shanghai and Hong Kong because, while being completely different in one way, they seemed to me to be entirely the same city in another.  Both cities once existed in a colonial or semi-colonial status and you can tell this even today in Shanghai by the architecture in The Bund, but in Hong Kong I personally don’t think its as obvious.

[Shanghai]

[Hong Kong]

To me, Hong Kong looks like just another big city (albeit a really cool one) and doesn’t necessarily represent any fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. It seems a lot like Tokyo, a city which was ripped from its traditional path of “Eastern” development and rebuilt on wholly Western lines.

Shanghai, on the other hand, looks like an aborted attempt at the same end. While Hong Kong remained in British hands after WW2 and the first half of the 20th century, Shanghai was reincorporated into China (although I suppose it was never actually separated from it) and cut off from its fledgling Westernization and colonialism.

In my opinion this was not necessarily a good thing for Shanghai as a city. Both cities in some way vie for the title of “China’s economic crown jewel” with Shanghai holding the championship belt until Hong Kong was formerly reincorporated into the People’s Republic in 1997. The fact that Shanghai was so quickly and easily “dethroned” I think speaks to what could be considered a benefit of colonial rule (although I don’t necessarily think there are many such benefits). Shanghai, although it is far more developed and economically powerful than any other Chinese city, does not hold a candle to Hong Kong. In many was I feel Shanghai, like the rest of The PRoC felt far more like a work in progress than I expected when I first went to China, especially when juxtaposed with the metropolis of Hong Kong. Shanghai was filled with smog and just as disorderly as Beijing or Xi’an, but Hong Kong had clear skies and took the concept of lawful order almost to an absurd extreme (there was a 1000HKD fine for eating on the subway!).

As a historian focusing on the relatively recent past I spend a lot of time debating the merits and faults of imperialism and colonial rule, and while I think there is something to be said for the hopeful idealism of Wilsonian Self Determination, I also think it cannot be denied that there seem to be some positives on the “supervised development” side of things.

Now, I’m not saying that Shanghai is a terrible city (its awesome) or that Hong Kong is perfect ($1000 fine for eating on a subway?!) but I think its interesting to see how two cities starting from relatively the same point could end up looking so different because of one (relatively major) change.

Xi’an Recap

Alright… time to return to post facto blogging.

So I guess the way I’ve always heard Xi’an described is as the remnants traditional China, a last remaining bastion of the “feudal” China which was wiped out during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. I’m not entirely sure how true this is outside of the fact that Xi’an, unlike many cities in China, still has its ancient city walls.

Other than that the biggest draw in Xi’an is the Terracotta Army located outside the city. The army itself was pretty cool, but what I really found interesting here was the commercialization of a still active archaeological site. The site where the Terracotta Warriors were discovered was originally a field, but when we were there a little shopping district for tourists had sprung up and they had built an entire complex around this site to cater to tourists. In fact they even had Song Zuying’s “Better and Better,” an anthem boasting of the great positive impact ‘opening up’ and embracing capitalism has had on China, blaring over loudspeakers which presented a much more capitalistic and entrepreneurial image of the site than the historical, professional atmosphere I expected.

Anyway I just thought it was interesting to see just how far the concept of ‘opening up’ had permeated Chinese culture, spreading like wildfire and entering even what should be a scientific dig site outside of the alleged “traditional cultural hub” of China. Even this place which maintained elements of its cultural integrity in the face of unspeakable adversity just 4 decades earlier proved vulnerable to the trappings of capitalism and entrepreneurship.

Much Delayed Beijing Recap

Hey team. So… the internet has been pretty shaky in China so I haven’t really been able to check email on a consistent basis let alone blog BUT we’re not in Hong Kong and things seem to be improving on that front (even if by “improving” I mean that I am now able to sneak into a hotel down the street from where we’re staying in order to borrow their lobby wifi… but that is neither here nor there!) Anyway here we go with delayed blog #1!!

Planes? Hate’m. LAX? Hate it. Cathay Pacific Airline? Friggin’ love it. Just sat and watched TV for 14 hours or whatever that flight was. But anyway, arrived in Beijing on May 31^st and all we really did was go to group registration and meet up with our small groups which we would travel with for the rest of the trip (there are about 120 of us total apparently so we’re split into 4 groups of about 30 students each). However, I went out with Brian (a guy I met in LAX from AZ) Miko (my roommate from Manila in the Philippines) and Ryan (Bryan’s roommate from Perth, Australia) and we just walked around the city for a bit and I did notice some things which seemed rather interesting to me.

Ok now bear with me here because I feel that in this blog I’m going to make a lot of Japan parallels because not only is that the only Asian country I’ve visited its also the only country outside of the Western Hemisphere I’ve visited so I have nothing else to draw on. Sorry. I’ll try to become more cultured in the future… but hey that’s what this trip is all about eh? Boom. Life goals achieved… or attempted at any rate BUT HERE WE GO! Initially I expected Beijing to be a lot like Tokyo, meaning a forest of buildings where you really struggle to see any sky amongst the redwoods that are Tokyo’s skyscrapers. What I got instead was a metropolis that was 1) still very much under construction rather than already established [SO MANY CRANES. Also, our guide Jerry told us an awesome corny joke which I will share with you now: “What is China’s favorite bird? The crane!!!” BAHAHAHA *badoom tssss*] and 2) a much more horizontal and sprawling city than a vertical and compact one. Tokyo goes up for miles and blots out the sun with its buildings. Beijing spreads out for miles and blots out the sun with its smog and car exhaust.

Now I don’t mean to say Beijing doesn’t have tall buildings (it does) but I guess I expected it to be a city already build, when in fact it is still a city very much in transition. I found this to be particularly interesting simply because the “opening up” of Deng Xiaoping started about 3 decades ago now, and all you ever hear in the news is how much China has grown (in fact becoming the world’s second most economically prosperous nation in GDP behind only America) but what is sometimes swept under the rug is the fact that if you calculate by per capita GDP China is somewhere around 92. As such there is a rather ever present juxtaposition of the rising capitalistic entities in China and the less fortunate people at large. From seeing Beijing that first day I really got an idea of a nation in flux, still forcing its way through growing pains 30 years running and still far from a nation which has completely arrived into the sphere of the “developed world”# or I suppose rather the “world leaders” such as the United States or Japan fashion themselves.

#In fact, later on in Beijing we were fortunate enough to meet with Mr. Zhu Hai Wuan, Deputy Director of the US Affairs Office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China who admitted that while it can’t be denied China has made astonishing and breathtaking leaps and bounds in recent times, there are still issues domestically that they wish to address concerning their own development. He pointed out that in many areas (specifically in terms of rural development and that of the lower classes) China still considers itself somewhat of a developing nation, which in turn influences its foreign policy as China chooses often to refuse a larger role on the world scene, a la America, so that it can better focus on domestic needs (which he also tied into an elucidation of China’s desire for peace rather than war. In peace one can continue to develop economically, but in war this is not always possible.)

In any event I think this sort of “2 China’s” image is what fascinated me most about my first hours out in China. One China which is in every way a peer to the United States, Britain, Japan, or Germany, and another which in some ways could unfortunately be more closely paired with perhaps the more impoverished nations in the world such as Liberia or Haiti.

Ok so here was were the trip actually “started” I suppose, because we started to go see the major sites of Beijing. First up was Tian’anmen Square, clearly one of the most iconic and identifiable places in the world. After the obligatory site seeing shenanigans and picture with Chairman Mao’s portrait we moved on to The Forbidden City, again a very identifiable place the whole world round. Both these locations have in some ways a touchy image as physical manifestations of authoritarianism and tyranny of one form or another, at least where I’ve come from, but whereas one (the Forbidden City) is praised as one of the few remaining bastions of traditional Chinese culture which survived the Cultural Revolution, the other is remembered with a negative connotation as the site a “promising” uprising violently quelled by an “unjust” government. (For those who are unsure of what I am referring to just check out Wikipedia and search for “Tian’anmen Square Incident” I would link to it, but unfortunately it appears as if I may be unable to access the page on my end… an issue which I don’t intend to get into here but maybe in a future blog post.)

As I hinted at earlier, however, I feel this may be somewhat of an unfair judgment. The Forbidden City could stand as every bit of a reminder of governmental injustice as Tian’anmen could (considering that it served as somewhat of the seat of power for multiple dynasties and myriad emperors, not exactly the most “liberal” institutions). Moreover, Tian’anmen (and particularly the events of 1989) can (and perhaps should) be remembered as a success for China and the Chinese people, rather than a horrible tragedy. No especially widespread reactionary movement came out of it per se, and though the students and intellectuals did not ostensibly achieve their goals (democratic government and popular elections), but nevertheless the government still became aware of the people’s wishes and in accordance with Deng’s initial wishes continued on the “capitalistic” road and continued, undoubtedly, to improve the lot of myriad Chinese citizens. In spite of what some American sources may tell you (and I suppose here I’m thinking rather specifically of a Frontline Documentary I believe titled “Tank Man” which I highly suggest you watch if you haven’t) the memory of Tian’anmen is not forgotten in China (in later days on my journey, after our actual visit to the square I’ve talked to several Chinese citizens who very much have not forgotten, and hold the events very dear) but is remembered with fond memories and hope for the future. After all, as Deng himself said it doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white as long as it catches rats, or, in other words, it doesn’t really matter what kind of government exists in China as long as it brings improvement and happiness to the lives of the approximately 1.3 billion Chinese citizens.

Anyway I’ve got to run now because they keep us on kind of a tight schedule. Sorry I don’t have any pictures up right now BUT I’m hoping to be able to edit this and put them up tonight. Hopefully I can get that done and maybe a bit of a recap on Xi’an tomorrow or some more on Beijing. Then I’ll try to move on to Shanghai and Hong Kong but those might not come until I’m back in the States with more reliable internet. Sorry and thanks for bearing with me!

Bienvenidos a mi Blog! (wait… wrong language?)

As far as I can tell the above seems to be one of the 3 most common things that come up in conversation when someone mentions China. (The other two being: “I LOVE PANDA EXPRESS!” And “Chopsticks… how do they work?… and why didn’t they invent the fork?”) Now I don’t mean the commercial itself (which I doubt a lot of people have seen because it wasn’t widely circulated on TV and isn’t exactly a viral video or anything but just let me hop on a soapbox here real quick). Rather, I mean the idea that China owns America because they own our debt and therefore are on a fast track to dethrone America as the world’s premier power.

Misinformation and fear seem to me to play a major role in the American public’s opinion of China. Americans seem to fear this idea that China will rise to a position of primacy in the world order and dominate all global affairs like some sort of tyrant, and that undermining America by financing our debt is the first stepping stone toward this goal. What I don’t understand, however, is why China’s financing of our debt can’t be considered an amicable act. Are they not helping us keep things running by loaning us cash? Japan has done the same thing at a similar rate* (although that’s probably going to change after the March 11 tsunami and earthquake) and they certainly aren’t demonized like China is in commercials like the one above.

* http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt

This fear, I think, probably stems from entrenched cold war ideologies and fear of communists, but the cold war is over and I really don’t think there is much of a reason to hang on to these old fears.  I really doubt the Chinese government is still out there thinking of ways to combat the capitalist world (especially in a post- Deng Xiaoping world) and even if they are I doubt they would be thinking “You know what would be the best way to topple America? Giving them a bunch of our money.” Moreover, I think with commercials like this we’re drawing China into a domestic conversation, as if they were a direct player in American domestic issues which I think is unfair as it allows people to set China up as a sort of straw man. (i.e. the federal deficit is a huge problem for America, China funds the debt, China [not the government itself] is a problem)

Anyway I think I’m getting off track here but the point I’m trying to make is that I think a lot of American’s I know don’t understand China and fear it because of this. They think of China as an enemy, if not an active one then at least a potential one, waiting for its moment to strike, and this, I think, is wrong. In an increasingly internationalized world these sort of xenophobic ideas are harmful and dangerous, and rise out of a lack of understanding.  First hand experiences are the foundation for true understanding. I may think I know a lot about China because I can rattle off facts about the lives of Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-Sen, and Mao Zedong, but you can’t truly understand something by reading about it in a book, or relying on what CNN or FOX News have to say about it. Rather, you need to go out and see something for yourself and try to come to your own conclusions.

It is just these firsthand experiences I hope to acquire (and hopefully share with you all, whoever happens to be reading this now) by going to China. I hope to see with my own eyes what China is like and acquire a more educated opinion on that country (and from there hopefully see also how America could cooperate with China and the Chinese in the future).  Maybe I’ll learn something new, maybe I won’t, but I’ll have experienced something new regardless and hopefully have developed a new outlook on things from which I hope we can all begin to erode irrational fear in favor of amicable cooperation in our new and increasingly globalized world.

PS           I’d like to thank a few people as long as I’m being hopelessly wordy with a media form intended to be short and easily consumed. First I’d like to thank the International Scholar Laureate Program for providing me with the amazing opportunity to go abroad to China, something I doubt I’d have been able to do anytime soon without them. I’d also like to thank the National Society for Collegiate Scholars (for whom I’m writing this blog) for making this trip a financial possibility for me. And finally I’d like to thank Dr. Ho, a professor of mine at the University of Kentucky, who has taught me everything (read: what little) I know about China and who piqued my interest in the area. (Also, she’s the person who first showed me the video above) BUT ANYWAY! I think I’m starting to ramble as I’m wont to do SO I’ll hurry up and finish now. Thanks for reading! See you in Beijing!