10 July 2008
There comes a point in every traveler’s journey when he or she has to make a distinction to keep going.
Before boarding a plane, it is necessary to part with your things—the distinction between the traveler and the souvenir. When climbing a mountain, it is necessary to let go of the camera—the distinction between getting a view and getting a shot. And after you start learning a foreign language, it is necessary to forget about ever sounding fluent—the distinction between communicating and connecting.
Here’s another distinction we all learn to live with: the difference between a country’s government and a country’s people.
That’s how people all around the world perceive America. In my travels, I have found that there is indeed a palpable force of resentment against the United States, which is felt to varying degrees by people in many places on Earth. But the term “Anti-Americanism” is not accurate.
Large groups of people resent the fact that America invaded Iraq without the permission of the UN Security Council. They resent the fact that America is the planet’s No. 1 polluter but still refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. And people really, really don’t like President Bush.
But what we in America often don’t realize—without traveling overseas that is—is that people in other countries, often those very people who harbor deep hatred for America’s foreign policy, love McDonald’s. They watch re-runs of “Growing Pains” and know the name of every Seaver. They would love to take a trip to America. And sometimes they will even show you extra hospitality simply because you’re from the country they think is coolest: America.
(For the purpose of this discussion, I’m excluding those individuals such as radical Islamic fundamentalist whose hate for America—based on ideological reasons—includes a hatred for its culture and people. However I believe this group of people, despite capturing a disproportionate amount of news coverage, represents a very small minority.)
So, can we (Americans or anyone talking about a country they don’t like) learn to love the people?
I’m certainly familiar with the politics-people split. There’s a lot of things in the People’s Republic of China that I’m not pleased with. To name a few: the government’s interpretation of “free” speech, the lack of real religious liberty and still not having Indian Jones in the theater! But the people—it took me a while to figure this out—they’re just like us (Americans, etc). There are good guys, bad guys and bad guys who are good sometimes and good guys who are bad sometimes—which includes me.
More than merely accepting people in China, I really love them and their culture. You’ve got to take a stroll along the street at night to appreciate Chinese people: old couples dancing on the sidewalk, young couples kissing on their bicycles. And you won’t see their crazy side come out until Chinese New Year when young and old alike turn out to transform the night sky into the world’s largest (and loudest) fireworks display, as if to proclaim, “We invented gun powder!”
It may seem strange with so many countries claiming to be representative democracies that we must face this fork in the road—the point where we allow our perception of politics and people to part ways. But I propose that it is the only way to understand the world; it is the only way to keep going.
The reason we tend to connect the government and the people in our minds is because regimes look for legitimacy through their people’s cultural heritage. Some governments are certainly worse than others (cough, Zimbabwe). They try to attach national pride to nationalism (two very different things). And they snatch up everything sacred to a society to decorate their unholy political pin-ups.
Of course the politics-people split is not even; it’s valuing human beings above their passports. In the words of one U2 song, it’s seeing “the world in green and blue,” instead of a patchwork of political colors. And there is at least some possibility that such a point of view is exactly what our countries, governments and politics are lacking.
Here are some examples that illustrate hating the government and loving the people:
You don’t have to like Mao to love Yao.
You don’t have to like a leader who has been around since the 50s to appreciate cars that have been around since the 50s.
You don’t have to agree with an anti-Semite to enjoy a good soccer game.
Finally, you don’t have to put up with a defeated leader in Zimbabwe who is acting like a child to buy a newspaper in Zimbabwe from a child.
Got any more examples?
7 July 2008
New buildings usually get noticed for attempting to be the world’s tallest. But the most eye-catching construction project on Beijing’s skyline doesn’t need to break a height record to get noticed. It’s the absolutely absurd new headquarters for China Central Television.
Click any of these pictures to zoom in:
The jury is still out on rather this new building is eye-candy or an eye sore. My first reaction was to admire it’s architectural boldness. Beijing is a hodgepodge of styles–from Ming dynasty hutongs to Soviet-era museums and tacky tile monuments of the 90s. So it could use a bit of style.
The CCTV Tower, as it is called (”CCTV” standing for China Central Television, not Closed-circuit television–though the quality of their programming could be likened to the security camera footage of a well-lit parking lot), aims to deliver style. But what style? One Beijing taxi driver told me he thought it looked like a pair of pants; another likened it to squatting bird about to lay an egg.
Check out the close-up:
What do you think? Does this building represent a new direction for the Beijing skyline? Of is it a cross between the Borg Cube and a crash-landed Decepticon?
Check out the Global Construction Watch blog for some awesome “in the making” photos.
Follow these links to find out what is a Borg Cube and a Decepticon.
6 July 2008
可能是第一次我最喜欢的餐厅不是墨西哥菜。我最近终于去北京的一家非常有名的餐厅，“Alameda”。如果你也还没去的话，快去看吧。
This may be the first time my favorite restaurant has not been a Mexican place. I finally went to a really famous restaurant in Beijing, “Alameda.” If you also haven’t been yet, go check it out.
这个西餐不是汉堡这类的快餐。菜单都像有真的厨师安排的。里面装修的style非常好。很多窗户让里面亮亮的（我真讨厌在黑黑的地方吃饭！）。可以把客人带过来给很深的影响。如果你找有意思和浪漫的地方，我觉得也可以满足你的要求。
This restaurant doesn’t serve hamburgers or that kind of “fast food” Western food. The whole menu looks like it was designed by a real chef. The inside is stylish. A lot of windows let in the light (you know I hate eating in the dark!). You can bring your guests here to impress. It’s also an interesting and romantic place for a date.
最好中午去。有套餐。说这样的餐厅，价格还合理。但是你还是喝果汁——葡萄酒比菜还贵。它在三里屯北街。电话号码是（10）64178084。
It’s best to go at lunch; there’s a lunch menu. For this kind of restaurant the price is reasonable. But you had better drink some juice instead of wine–it’s more expensive than the whole meal. Located at Sanlitun North Street. The phone number is (10) 64178084.
6 July 2008
This week, Ning and I secured all the necessary paperwork for an international marriage in China. What could be more “Go Too Far East” than marrying someone from another country? The next step is get the Great State of Texas to recognize these nuptials (for tax purposes). And of course there’s the whole wedding itself on October 10!
I want to tell the story, so far, backward.
Riding in a taxi to a very late lunch, Ning and I look through our brand new little red marriage certificate booklets. What’s this page say, I ask. The bearers of this book are legally married, husband and wife. They probably write that so that people take it seriously and don’t change their mind before the wedding, I say. Then, I look out the window and express out loud my astonishment that, “I’m married to a Chinese person!”
When the Civil Affairs Bureau came back from lunch, we were first in line. Here’s my passport, her hukou, my marriageability affidavit from the U.S. Embassy… They make us fill out a statement that we’re not blood-related—as if that’s not obvious enough. The procedure is pretty cordial. Just us and the officer. We sign here, place our finger prints there, and that’s it. I had imagined that we might have to read some vows like when you go to the Justice of the Peace in America—and was fully prepared to swear on my Mao book! The only question she asked: What’s this? (producing several of bottles of Bath and Body Works products from beneath her desk—inevitably a gift from someone just returned from America). No vows, but there was a RMB 9 marriage fee (USD 1.2). What a deal!
Oh no, I thought as we entered the Public Security Bureau branch at Peking University. Lights, dimmed; oscillating fan, oscillating. The officer at the front desk was asleep in her chair. But thankfully we seemed to have caught them just before the rice-and-garlic cloud totally overtook these tired, hot bureaucrats ahead the afternoon slumber. They retrieved a copy of the first page of Ning’s hukou, and we were on our way.
Arriving at the Civil Affairs Bureau at 11:29… they agreed to look over our documentation before the two-hour lunch break began. We also found out they don’t take pictures, so we would need that time for a snapshot and lunch. Here’s my passport, her hukou, my marriageability affidavit from the U.S. Embassy… Where’s the font page of her hukou, asked the officer. You need a copy of the front page? (Hukou is a Chinese person’s residency permit—like a Social Security Card in America.) So after taking some pictures at Fuji Film across the street, we get in a taxi to Peking University where Ning’s temporary Beijing hukou is kept. Lunch would have to wait.
Ning and I decided to go apply for the marriage certificate on July 3. It’s another thing on the wedding checklist that we had been needing to take care of, and this day was convenient for me to take off work. Why not make a day of it and grab a nice lunch afterward, I thought. Ning just finished her term paper. And with the whole city gearing up for the Olympics, we thought it would be best to handle all the administrative aspects of the marriage sooner rather than later. There’s no time like the present!
5 July 2008
How do you like the changes to the look-and-feel of Go Too Far East? I call it the “East is Read” edition.
Beside the obvious visual changes, I have upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress. There are improved “Widgets” in the sidebar, such as a Twitter stream that I can update from my cell phone (how do you like “micro-blogging”?), photo albums directly from Facebook, a Go Too Far East “favicon” in your address bar, and — what I think is most cool — the ability to have the blog e-mail you when someone posts feedback to your comment. Just check the box when you leave a comment.
Hope you will like these updates. No, it’s not pink. If you’re monitor is like mine, it’s a real edgy “West Red.” If you’re monitor is like Ning’s, it’s raspberry (not pink!). Anyway, it’s “cb3b3b” as far as Photoshop is concerned.
27 June 2008
Advocacy is a buzz word in the world of PR right now. My company, Weber Shandwick, has done a pretty good job of identifying it as the “next big thing.” It’s one of the things I’m really, really excited about. Is the Internet amplifying people’s voices as they make their views known about governments, organizations and companies? Should brands and businesses consider Average Joes as the most important factor on their balance sheet? Go Too Far East things so.
The director of Weber Shandwick Shanghai, Darren Burns, recently did a vodcast about how advocacy is making a difference in China. You can watch it on our UK Web site, here.
Here’s some of my own thoughts. China’s unique, and it’s going to become the capital of advocacy for better or for worse. The power of the Internet is people, and in China you can multiply that to the 1.3 billionth degree. Advocacy, I mean the voice of everyday people for or against anything, has always been around. But it’s your YouTubes, your Facebooks and MSNs that are making their voices heard.
Coincidently, those communication platforms (or their Chinese equivalents like Toudou, Xiaoyou and QQ) are hitting it big in the Middle Kingdom because newspapers, magazines and television suck so bad and are trusted so little. A lot of young people spend way more time watching Prison Break on Tudou than they do reading People’s Daily.
Problem is that rumors spread fast. So you have companies like Carrefour - one of the most loved supermarket chains in China - getting their reputation smashed because someone said their French shareholders donated funds to the Dali Lama. Probably didn’t happen. But brands have got to be all that more diligent now. And that goes for government and other organizations, too.
It is mostly fans supporting their favorite stuff. But the implications for social welfare and consumer rights are robust. What do you think: Could the second coming of democracy be in the form of a text message or blog post?
27 June 2008
Went to dinner at a nice little French place last night with my laowai colleagues. “Laowai,” literally means “old outsider,” but it’s an affectionate term that Beijingers use to describe foreigners. Check out the best looking bunch of expats on this side of the Pacific!
From left to right: Richard Liu, Canada; Santana Wulsin, Arizona; Diana Price, various U.S. states; Abby Fitzgibbon, Maryland; and me … Tim Gingrich, Texas.
Nothing beats discussing the national sovereignty of Canada and Taiwan over a glass of wine and a plate of goose liver. France assumes presidency of the EU next Tuesday, so GET USED TO IT!
25 June 2008
One of China’s most revered wedding traditions is wedding pictures. They’re all too often plastic-wrapped and tacky (think hot pink wedding dress). But Ning and I wanted to do it right.
Check out our wedding photo album online at www.gotoofareast.com/wedding. (No, we’re not married yet. That won’t happen until October 10. Leave a comment; wish us luck!)
You will see we chose several classic Beijing settings, from Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City and deep inside the capital’s ancient alleyways, the hutongs.
I think Ning looks amazing. Ever since taking the pictures, whenever we go out on a date I feel like I’m sitting across from a super model. A short, cute super model.
Me? Pretty good too. But I must admit, Photoshop and some man make-up were involved.
What do you think?
24 June 2008
Have received two new additions for my messenger bag. “Awesome! What’s your excuse” from good friend Jenny Xia in Dallas, and “Obama ‘08″ from Diana Price. Thanks! More about my bag, here.
24 June 2008
Beijing may not be the cleanest city in the world, but it is a great place to be a blogger.
What makes a blogger’s paradise? The common occorance of quirky sights. In layman’s terms: crazy shit. Just check out some of these pictures I took over the last couple of days. These articles practically write themselves!
Under a highway near the Summar Palace, a bunch of Beijingers have opened an open-air pool hall. Notice the light bulbs hanging down from the underside of the overpass. So you can play at night, too.
I took the picture out the taxi window, and the driver asked me, “Don’t you have pool halls in America?” I explained that we usually don’t have pool halls beneath highways. He gave me a look which seemed to convey sympathy.
Next, check out this postal truck that collided with the highway support beam outside my office. Does it seem that there is an unusually high occcorance of these blog-worthy snippets of Beijing life beneath highways?
Finally, I found out that the Starship Enterprise is being constructed outside Beijing’s Xizhimen light-rail station…
22 June 2008
What does Senator Obama’s decision to declined public campaign financing have to do with China? Today, I learned a Chinese proverb that may shed some light on his intentions.
“八字衙门朝南开，有理无钱莫进来,” could literally be translated, “The eight-character Yamen gate is open to the East; have reason but no money can’t go in.” The point it is proverbial: Even though the door to the government stands wide open before you and you have a just cause, don’t go in without money.
奥巴马决定不接收政府提供的选举浅和中国有什么关系？今天我学到一个成语，可能可以让我们更了解他的目的：“八字衙门朝南开，有理无钱莫进来”。
Clearly, this proverb comes from the cynical side of Chinese culture. Even if you have a just cause to present to the authorities, it usually takes money to make your voice heard.
这个成语可以代表中国文化愤世嫉俗的方面。很可惜，任何人都承认它的道理。虽然你的理由很合理，但是没有钱的话，你要影响政府是不可能的事情。
Just to give a little background, the U.S. government offers each candidate USD 85 million for their campaign. The condition is, you can’t combine it with your own fundraising. In February, Obama promised to “aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.” But now that he’s raised upward of USD 250 million, the senator has decided he can do without public funds.
我解释一下背景：美国政府安培两个总统候选85 million美金。今年二月奥巴马说他保证一定和共和党的候选人用政府安排的钱。但是因为他现在已经有250 million美金，奥巴马就不要政府的那款。
I am disappointed that Obama couldn’t have lived up to a higher standard. His reason is that the Republican Party already has much more money that the Democratic Party. But wouldn’t it have said a lot if he could have spent less money and still won?
我其实挺失望奥巴马的这个决定。他的借口是共和党的钱已经比民主党多了。但是我想如果虽然花的更少，但是还被选举的话，会多好。
Seems that this Chinese proverb holds true in America today.
好像这个中国古老的成语今天在美国很有道理。
Background:
Critics assail Obama’s rejection of public campaign money (AFP)
No Small Change: How Obama Reinvented Campaign Finance (really cool graphic of Obama’s Web 2.0-enabled fundraising)
17 June 2008
I’ve been supporting Senator Obama’s campaign, for one reason because he’s been one of the most internationally-minded candidates in a while (see here). So when I first heard that a couple of his campaign advisers would be in Beijing, I wanted to hear what they had to say.
But I didn’t go. I’m feeling a bit disenfranchised in fact. I didn’t go because I found out on the campaign Web site that it cost at least USD 100 to get in the door.
Maybe I read this wrong. And indeed some people have pointed out that this may be a suggested contribution. But there are two reasons this turned me off.
First, while USD 100 in America is like gas money for a week, USD 100 in China is like my grocery shopping for a month. I’m not sure if Obama is trying to punish us for outsourcing our own jobs or what.
Second, I need to go hear what you have to say first, then I’ll give you my money. I don’t mind giving money to causes I believe in. And if you inspire me, I’ll be generous. But the order is important here. In my view, it’s simply a matter of respect.
The Obama campaign and the event organizers are not guilty of doing anything that any other campaign wouldn’t have done. This is a typical campaign event. I guess my problem is with the whole system. How has our country come to the point where winning requires first getting people’s money and second earning people’s ear?
Okay, I couldn’t resist. From my favorite British political commentators:
“You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We’re doing what we can”
17 June 2008
The public will accept a certain amount of spin. Like when a company calls its product “the world’s best…” whatever. As long as the product’s pretty good, we’ll give them that.
But what about when a concrete slab bills itself as the “best apartment in Asia Pacific?” That’s what one construction project in Beijing is doing.
On the corner of Jianguo Rd. and West Dawang Rd., the murals masking a building in the making make some outrageous claims. Here’s my favorite:
You read it right: “Only for the elites who are influencing the world.”
Me: Hi, I would like to rent office space.
Building: Are you an elite?
Me: I don’t know. I’m not a Republican if that’s what you’re asking.
Building: That’s okay, we have a simple test to know if you’re an elite.
Me: Okay.
Building: Are you influencing the world?
Me: If I was influencing the world, why would I want to rent office space on the outskirts of the city where construction workers hawk fake Buddha artifacts right outside?
Building: Oh wait, Mr. Gingrich, I see you are the author of a blog, Go Too Far East. Is that right?
Me: Yes.
Building: Alright then, you are an elite who is influencing the world.
17 June 2008
What are the chances that a construction worker would happen across an ancient Chinese artifact in Beijing? For the last few weeks, one Beijing construction worker has been claiming just that.
Outside the entrance to a construction zone in the Central Business District, the proud owner exhibits his very own “Crystal Skull” — a miniature, muddy Buddha. Caked in clay, it looks more like Jabba the Hut. And apparently no one else is buying it either. This is a common street scam.
Here’s the best part: His construction worker buddies regularly come by under the guise of being Beijing archeology professors, proclaiming some crap like, “This must be worth a lot of money.”
At best, such cheap trickery could be considered the rudimentary beginnings of the public relations field in China — enlisting a third-party endorsement in hopes of influencing public opinion.
16 June 2008
我最近要写很都事情，但是一直来不及或不太知道怎么说。你知道吗？我不喜欢不太了解就说出来。但是我们世界有的事情真的太难了解。所以我们人只要偶尔直接说出来。如果以后觉得后悔或改变主意，承认你的错误（还得赔礼道歉）就可以了。但是今天，我们得写。
There were a lot of things I wanted to write about recently, but I never got time or I didn’t know quite how to say it. You know, I don’t like to talk about things I don’t really understand. But in our world, there’s a lot of things that you can’t fully understand. So we just have to sometimes say whatever we think. If later we come to regret it or have a change of heart, just got to accept your mistake (and say sorry). But today, we have to write.
