The Wu Way 無為

Phoenix News (aka 凤凰卫视）is run by Rupert Murdoch, the guy behind Fox News. So maybe it should come as no surprise that, in the aftermath of the election, it decides to drag on a couple of pundits from California, professors both representing the overseas Chinese population, to spread a little more hatred and division on the airwaves.

In case you didn’t follow the news, there was a ballot measure in California, Proposition 8, that would ban gay marriage (in opposition to the California Supreme Court decision this summer making gay marriage legal). Proposition 8 passed on Tuesday.

Here’s one of these so-called pundits weighing in on Phoenix News why overseas Chinese families would support Proposition 8 （八号提案）：

那么华人到美国以后，尤其第一代移民打拼，都是为了为孩子创造一个良好的教育环境和生活环境，现在生活环境已经被毒品弄得痛苦不堪，现在又弄出一个同性恋出来。

(Rough translation: After Chinese go the US, especially the first generation of immigrants, they want to create a healthy environment for their children to live and study. Now this living environment has been made miserable by drugs. And now homosexuality has been brought out as well.)

Yes, that’s right — having homosexuals in your community is as bad as widespread drug abuse.

But wait, the hatred doesn’t stop there. In the same discussion, he goes on to castigate the African American community as well:

现在在华人当中，两件事情是最让家长头疼的：一个是女儿嫁给了黑人，一个是儿子变成了同性恋。那个是整个是做父母的就就要跳楼了。

(Rough translation: For today’s overseas Chinese, two things would be considered the worst headache for parents: one is your daughter marrying a black man, one is your son being gay. If this is true and you’re a parent, you would jump off a building.)

Excuse me?

Look, I know that many Chinese and Chinese parents have a very traditional perspective on the world. And I know there is still racism in China. But these two pundits are supposed to be well-educated, and representing Chinese as a whole. Their words (and positions as professors, for that matter) add credence to what are, in my opinion, some dangerously divisive and hateful ideas.

I give the host credit for at least calling them out on their words:

你说一个女儿嫁给黑人，一个是同性恋，这俩都是偏见哪。照所谓政治正确的立场来讲，这不都是偏见吗？

You say a daughter marries a black man, the other is homosexuality, these are prejudice. From a politically correct perspective, aren’t these all prejudice?

Fair and balanced in China? Phoenix News, you’ve got a way to go.

So, Obama is the next president of the US.

But what’s the take on Obama in China? How does China view Obama’s presidency, after eight years of the Bush administration where Chinese exports were embraced?

Of course, there is some concern on the trade side. A number of websites, including Hexun and Sina, cite a rather cautious quote from Obama regarding his stance on China:

中国既不是朋友，也不是敌人。他们是竞争者

(rough translation: China is not a friend, nor an enemy. The Chinese are competitors.)

Indeed, the article from Hexun, which includes in its title “The pressure is great for Chinese foreign trade”, suggests that Obama will put dampen the foreign trade market, which previously had been such a runaway locomotive under Bush. Of course, things have already slowed down. The article mentions a letter Obama wrote to a textile organization in the US, where he promises to pressure China to float the RMB and reduce exports. On the other hand, the author suggests some common ground for the two countries, namely working together to help resolve the current financial crisis.

As for Sina, the view is more positive than you’d think as well. The author points out Obama’s reputation for pragmatism — meaning that he would always act prudently when considering any policy changes towards China.

He reminds us that Obama spent four of his formative years in Indonesia, leaving him with a positive impression of Asia. He also once visited Karachi, and was shocked by the poverty and lingering landscape of feudalism that gripped many of the citizens there. These and other experiences have influenced Obama, and helped him to make better foreign policy decisions.

He also mentions Obama’s tendency to surround himself with the best and the brightest advisors, including Jeffrey Bader of the Brookings Institution, who is described as one of today’s preeminent China experts.

Additionally, this blog provides the translation of a discussion about Obama’s policy from Shanghai:

Despite this, in light of the large number of Obama’s China advisors with realist positions, and even more due to the fact that America and China’s common interests outweigh their differences, Obama’s “not a friend nor enemy” and “competitor” strategic position towards China is bound to be discarded about half a year after taking office, just like what happened early on in the Clinton and Bush administrations.  His China policy will gradually become more rational and realistic.  Compared with Bush’s current China policy, when the time comes, the differences in Obama’s policy will mainly appear in issues regarding America and China’s economic relationship.

So, what’s the verdict? Certainly, there’s going to be pressure on China — but, on the other hand, China sees Obama as a steady hand who, when it comes to governance, will, to borrow a phrase from a Spike Lee film, do the right thing.

UPDATE: This story on the World also talks about how China views Obama…mentions that people are excited about the election as a historic moment, but also cautious in their concern that he may be more protectionist.

Just this evening, I was chatting with my good friend Caroline, who is from Zhejiang Province in Yiwu, and she happened to mention that she knew an import-export broker from South America.

“He said that someday he would like to make me the manager of his Yiwu office,” she wrote, “because I’m the only person in China that he trusts.”

It’s not as though this is a new sentiment. Let’s face it, throughout China’s recent history of development, trust — or rather, lack thereof — has figured into business relations with the country. Now, however, with the increasing transparency of information coming out of the country, and in light of recent scandals involving tainted milk and, to a lesser extent, Siberian ginseng, it’s front and center yet again…well, at least in China.

If it weren’t for the financial crisis, believe me, more American families would probably be checking their pantries with a fine microscope in search of the lactic miscreants that may have polluted their foodstuffs. (Admittedly, even I have taken a second look at some “made in China” foods in my home that contain powdered milk, and wondered if they were fit for consumption — I gave them to my husband and decided to avoid purchasing them).

Especially when it comes to importing and exporting, how can we trust our suppliers? The answer is not simple. If you’ve visited more than a few suppliers in China, no doubt you’ve experienced the ultimate China cliche in trust betrayal — seeing knockoff brands sitting on the wall of the sample room, or featured in catalogs. The “Hello Kitty” purse. The “Coach” bag. The “Dior” clutch.

It’s not hard to understand why this phenomenon — the IP issue — remains. For the longest time, in Chinese culture, the whole concept of IP was a fuzzy matter. Copying functioned as a form of flattery in many instances. When foreigners pummeled China’s reputation beginning from the 1840’s (when Hong Kong was ceded to Britain) all the way to the Japanese occupation before and during World War II, during this time, the Chinese determined to learn from their aggressors, just as Confucianism encourages us to learn from others. Learning from others meant first understanding, and copying, the best practices and ideas. Also, from the beginning of China’s history, students were expected to learn primarily through memorization. Much of China’s education today rests on the regurgitation of facts and ideas, not independent, free thinking. This is an atmosphere that will tend to encourage more copying rather than developing novel concepts.

On the other hand, the IP issue plays out differently in Taiwan. Thanks to increasing regulation of goods, and crackdowns on pirated DVDs and IP violations, Taiwan has seen a decrease in these issues…though admittedly, you can still get your cheap Hello Kitty watches and mobile phone trinkets at the local night markets. Regulation, however, makes these instances much rarer than in the mainland.

With the milk scandal, regulation has been at the heart of the tragedy. Thanks to the country’s 免检产品 (inspection-free products) program, large companies considered to be pillars of corporate responsibility and quality were given the freedom to self-regulate. Well, given our recent financial crisis, I probably don’t need to explain why self-regulation doesn’t work. Before you knew it, the pillars fell and there was spilled milk all around. And, like the financial crisis, the biggest losers weren’t the corporations — who probably have enough connections with powerful Chinese such as officials and CEOs to, say, shift the direction of their business if needed. No, it’s the little guys — the dairy farmers — who lost out.

But keep in mind, the dairy farmers were never necessarily out to cheat the system — they were just trying to do their job. It was further down the food supply chain where melamine even entered the picture.

It will take time to trust China again, just as it will take us time to trust Wall Street and the financial system. But, as long as you do your due diligence — and don’t take things for face value, you may be pleasantly surprised. Just like this country, here are good people behind that label of “China” that don’t buy into the idea of gaming the system for more profits.

People like my good friend, Caroline.

Hi all! It’s been a while since we’ve been on the blog, with our move to Pocatello, Idaho.

Thought I’d dig into the mailbox and respond to what’s becoming a Frequently Asked Question. This comes from my friend Joel here in Pocatello as well:

Do you focus solely on Chinese culture and translations or do you write other things as well?

Good question Joel.

No, we’re not just focused only on Chinese culture or translations — we do quite a bit of non-China-related work. Writing projects — just look at our portfolio and you’ll see lots of examples of this.

For example, we just wrapped up doing an article for a company magazine, where I interviewed people, concepted the story, and wrote it up.

Web content is another area where we shine. We’ve organized and crafted content for a number of websites — check out a few of them in our case studies section.

Earlier this summer, we concepted and wrote up a four-ad campaign for a software company that sells to other businesses.

We also do brochures, newsletters, bios, case studies and even press releases.

Since we have a lot of experience in business to business (B2B) advertising, we love B2B writing projects. B2B operates by different rules in advertising, and it pays to have someone who ‘gets it’ content-wise. I’ve seen some B2B marketing materials written in a hyped-up consumer sort of way…and trust me, it’s not pretty.

So, anyhow, if you thought we were only about China, we’re setting the record straight. And next time you need help with a B2B project that requires a good writer, think about giving us a call.

This is a companion to my Foreign Babes in Beijing Book Review — or for anyone who has read the book. If you’re dying to see what Rachel DeWoskin looked like as Jiexi, or see Louisa, Tianliang, and Tianming, this will satisfy. It’s a 16 minute clip, apparently made from a company who sells the series, and includes English subtitles.

Let’s clear up a few things first. Despite the title of Foreign Babes in Beijing — and the suggestive picture of a foreign girl in a sultry little silk black dress, fishnet hose and stilettos, towering over what seems to be her Chinese hotel fling for the evening — this is not a book about sex. Okay, yes, there are references to characters’ respective rolls in the covers, but they are just that: references. So, all of this is to say…if you want a blow-by-blow chronicling of bedroom exploits between foreign women and Chinese men, this isn’t your book.

Foreign Babes in Beijing is not some chic-lit fluff, either.

Sadly, the title, and the cover, are a little misleading. Which is unfortunate, because a lot of people who pass on Foreign Babes in Beijing might actually miss out on a rather informative read on China. Continue Reading »

I was listening this afternoon to NPR’s All Things Considered, and was stopped dead in my tracks by this excerpt from a story about a Japanese survivor of the Hiroshima bombing who became an artist and an ambassador of peace:

Hirayama immediately began sketching out what would become one of his most powerful works, a huge, six-paneled canvas called “The Holocaust of Hiroshima.”

It’s a striking painting; most of the canvas is a blood-red sky, filled with wisps of dirty clouds. In the upper right, the Buddhist god of wrath looks down upon the city.

Hirayama says that despite the sorrow and destruction portrayed in “The Holocaust of Hiroshima,” the painting offers a message of hope.

Clearly, many Japanese citizens — this man included — suffered dearly for the actions of their government. Still, as horrifying as Hiroshima was, I have to wonder if it merits the description of “Holocaust”, especially given the atrocities the Japanese committed for years in China that have still yet to be acknowledged with the same gravity as the Nazi Holocaust.

Consider this: Japan had basically forcibly occupied portions of China since the end of 1931 up until 1945. It began in the Northeastern region — Manchuria — but eventually spread to include the entire eastern seaboard of China, plus Canton, Hong Kong and Hainan Island, as well as Taiwan. The land mass in Japan’s hands was greater than eight Iraqs put together — and with horrific, senseless violence that ranks right up there with the worst of human rights violations, illuminated in this passage from Jonathan Spence’s the Search for Modern China, which describes ONLY the rape of Nanking/Nanjing, a seven-week rampage by the Japanese:

There followed in Nanjing a period of terror and destruction that must rank among the worst in history of modern warfare. For almost seven weeks the Japanese troops, who first entered the city on December 13, unleashed on the defeated Chinese troops and on the helpless Chinese civilian population a storm of violence and cruelty that has few parallels. The female rape victims, many of whom died after repeated assaults, were estimated by foreign observers at 20,000; the fugitive soldiers killed were estimated at 30,000; murdered civilians at 12,000. Robbery, wanton destruction, and arson left much of the city in ruins. There is no obvious explanation for this grim event nor perhaps can one be found. The Japanese soldiers, who had expected easy victory, instead had been fighting hard for months and had taken infinitely higher casualties than anticipated. They were bored, angry, frustrated, tired. The Chinese women were undefended, their men-folk powerless or absent. The war, still undeclared, had no clear-cut goal or purpose. Perhaps all Chinese regardless of sex or age seemed marked out as victims.

That was only one incident during the entire Japanese occupation of China, but it gives you the sense of the depravity of the Japanese aggression — arguably, just from Spence’s description up there, just as bloodthirsty and inhumane as the Holocaust in Germany, given that, in many cases, the Japanese just needlessly raped and murdered innocent civilians, simply because they were Chinese.

Keep in mind, also, that, while 6 million people were murdered in the Holocaust, far more innocent Chinese were murdered in the atrocities by Japan:

The Chinese casualties were 3.22 million soldiers. 9.13 million civilians who died in the crossfire, and another 8.4 million as non-military casualties. According to historian Mitsuyoshi Himeta, at least 2.7 million civilians died during the “kill all, loot all, burn all” operation (Three Alls Policy, or sanko sakusen) implemented in May 1942 in North China by general Yasuji Okamura and authorized on 3 December 1941 by Imperial Headquarter Order number 575.^[9]

Every time I hear stories like this about Japan, from the Japanese perspective, it somehow magnifies the very absence of any attention paid to China’s grave suffering at the hands of the Japanese.

I used to wonder why Chinese were so livid over the Japanese…but now I know.

I ask, why is there a Holocaust museum for the Jews, but not also one for the Chinese? Why is it that we turn time and time again to Hitler as the despot whose imitators must never be allowed to reign, yet we somehow turn a blind eye to the Japanese leaders?

I don’t disagree that the Holocaust — and the despair and destruction of human life as a result — deserves recognition. But what about the Chinese?

The China earthquake disaster has brought some interesting images out of China, but not usually protests. Apparently, instead of providing financial donations and relief help, Falun Gong has rejoiced in the wake of all of the loss and misery, saying that this is the Gods’ way of punishing the country.

This video, in Mandarin Chinese, shows overseas Chinese living in Flushing, New York protesting against Falun Gong demonstrators standing outside of a local public library — who had been there for three days — in an effort to force the Falun Gong to leave the area. They say that, as Chinese, these Falun Gong ought to show their concern and support for their country, instead of denouncing it and refusing to provide charitible donations or assistance. And, perhaps more importantly, it collides with the usual image of Falun Gong practitioners as kindhearted, caring individuals.

Some of the seething language used:

“Falun Gong is an evil cult…everyone else is providing disaster relief, and what are you doing? You have no ancestors!”

“Where is your goodheartedness?”

“You’re not Chinese!”

“Falun Gong uses lies to create hatred. They have no humanity. That whole “kindhearted” image they promote is not Falun Gong.”

“Even Kuomintang, who we have a conflict with, has no problem [helping with disaster relief]. But you Falun Gong are still [condemning the disaster]….you’ve sold your souls!”

“Chinese people ought to have more responsibility [than the foreign workers coming into the country] to help….”

“They say they can foretell the future…so this is also their country, they are also Chinese. Why can’t they make the disaster go away?”

“The Communist Party wasted their resources raising [The Falun Gong]!….Shameless!”

The video is in Mandarin Chinese.