|
We have all heard a version of the old adage, “Watch out for what
you wish; you might get it.” It is both true and cautionary. Pity
that the Chinese government hasn’t heeded this wise maxim. One
would have thought that Confucius would have said something similar
in his Analects a couple of millennia ago. Having failed to
glean a lesson about life from one of their own, Beijing could have
learned that lesson from the Greek tragedies such as Agamemnon.
Aeschylus’ story recounts how King Agamemnon, filled with hubris, is
convinced to walk on the purple carpet by Clytemnestra. She
convinces Agamemnon that he deserves that special recognition as a
reward for his accomplishments during the Trojan War. Had the
Chinese not been so xenophobic, they been familiar with this Greek
tragedy and would have been sufficiently chastened by it.
Case in point—the 2008 Summer Olympics. Nearly seven years ago, I
wrote an
essay about China being awarded
the summer games in ’08. In that article, I cautioned the
authorities that they might live to regret this long-sought and
coveted honor. I thought then that the influx of all the foreign
tourists would make the locals desirous of all the material goods
and freedoms that the Chinese people didn’t possess—thus
destabilizing the homeostasis of the Chinese society.
Having been to Tibet twice and taken a group of American college
students to China for a class on Tibetan and Chinese history, I know
a little about the area. I know, as does everyone except the
Chinese government, that the Tibetans aren’t racially related at all
to the Chinese and that they don’t wish to be related
governmentally. That is way the Chinese military invaded Tibet
nearly a half century ago this month.
I also know firsthand that many Chinese have a very strange and
deeply rooted mix of nationalistic inferiority complex and at the
same time an equal and opposite superiority complex that verges on
frenzy. This bipolar extreme is readily explainable because of
their past even though both these adolescent responses need to
bridled.
The Chinese have had a very long history full of many remarkable
firsts. They have much of which to be proud, and the rest of the
world is greatly in their debt for what they have given civilization
over many millennia.
As for their inferiority complex, the West as well as other nations
in the region have taken advantage of the China while it was weak
and used that vast land mass at best as an unwilling trading partner
or at worst as a colony. Of course, the Chinese in their heyday did
the same to other countries. Nevertheless, the fact remains, the
Chinese have faced humiliation at the hands of outsiders. These
insults are fresh in their collective psyches.
These two extremes of their national consciousnesses: a proud past
and a humiliating past, cause the Chinese to have this national
bipolar mood disorder. They act like so many Rodney Dangerfields
constantly complaining, “We don’t get no respect.”
This brings us to the run-up to the summer games. All has been
progressing fairly well with the exception of Steven Spielberg
quitting as the leading artistic advisor to the games. He quit over
Beijing not doing more to pressure the Sudanese to resolve genocide
in Darfur. Then there was a foiled 9/11-like attempt to crash a
Chinese plane into Beijing last week to disrupt the preparation for
the Olympics. If that wasn’t enough, there was the concert by the
Icelandic singer, Bjork. She ended her concert with the
unauthorized song Declaration of Independence in Shanghai
with the cry, “Tibet, Tibet, Tibet, Tibet….” To add insult to
injury, she then encouraged the audience to join her with shouting
the response, “Tibet, Tibet, Tibet, Tibet….” The Ministry of
Culture issued a terse statement indicating that Ms. Bjork’s
behavior “broke Chinese law and hurt the feelings of the Chinese
people.”
Then came the 49th anniversary of the Chinese invasion of
Tibet by the Chinese Red Army that forced the Dalai Lama into exile
and resulted in massive death and destruction throughout Tibet.
Now, the Chinese have gotten what they wished for—the Olympics and
now don’t want—the attention of the world and a Tibetan version
of Tiananmen Square. “Watch out for what you wish, you might
get it.”
What the Chinese really fear isn’t just Tibet but that Tibet’s quest
for freedom will ripple through the rest of China just like what
happened in the former Soviet Union. First, it was Poland and then
the rest of the former Soviet satellites spun out of control of
Moscow. Time will tell what will happen in China. However, the
more forcefully the Chinese crackdown upon the Tibetans, the more of
a backlash there will be both within and outside of China. If
Beijing thinks that the Tibetan Buddhists are causing trouble, wait
until the Falun Gong religious sect gets wind of what is happening
in Tibet! The glorious coming out party of China in four months is
looking very iffy.
All isn’t lost for the Beijing. There is an answer, and one
supplied from within:
Conscientious practice of self-criticism is
still another hallmark distinguishing out Party from all other
political parties. As we say, dust will accumulate if a room is not
cleaned regularly, our faces will get dirty if they are not washed
regularly…To check up regularly on our work and in the process
develop a democratic style of work, to fear neither criticism nor
self-criticism, and to apply such good popular Chinese maxims as
“Blame not the speaker but be warned by his words” and “Correct
mistakes if you have committed them and guard against them if you
have not”.
This wasn’t said by Confucius but rather by
none other than Chairman Mao. What boggles my mind is how nimble
the Chinese government has been in converting to capitalist economy
but can’t seem to do the same with the other concepts of the
West—like freedom and democracy.
If you plan to travel to China, you might wish to read this
cautionary advice.
|
