Notes From Xi'an 西安随感

An Introduction

This Note surrounds the focus of Jonathan Watts’ environment road trip book ‘When a Billion Chinese Jump’. It is however based on Watts’ comments in the two interviews that sparked my interest in his book in the first place, in The Guardian and over at ABC News Australia. For now I will simply highlight the book’s central strands as well as add my own brief anecdotal contribution. A second Note, I suspect with a graver tone, will follow.

A week or so ago, just as the gentleman that is kindly bringing a copy of this book over from England for me was landing in Xi’an I was taking off for Beijing and as I was returning he was taking to the skies again in the opposite direction. We should have better luck early next month. However, as well as missing each other, neither of us were seemingly doing much to assuage our own carbon footprints, though I can assure you our hearts are in the right place. And there in probably lies a simple way of introducing Jonathan Watts’ take on things green, ecological and sustainable in China.

In China economic pragmatism and growth are still out stripping concern for environmental consequences as motivating forces behind developmental practices and policies. The Chinese government is certainly seen as recognising the problem but the practical implications at this particular point of development means change isn’t happening fast enough. In terms of our own nations’ time scale of development and late-to-the-table environmental concerns, Watts concludes that the Chinese feeling that they to should be able to go through this heavily polluting stage of development is both ‘completely fair and utterly calamitous.’ As he continues:

‘In a sense, China is extraordinarily unfortunate to be hitting this stage of development at this time in human history.’

Watts doesn’t hide from outlining the stark choice between a future of global ecological balance or devastation. But, it is here he also focuses on the fact that it is a fresh search for the values that guide our choices that will have as much to do with the resolution of this epic problem than simple finger pointing; whether towards undemocratic regimes or global financial institutions.

 

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Having in the last two weeks moved between tiny China villages, my home in Xi’an and the capital itself, Beijing, it was probably not a bad time to stumble upon this site and the depth of analysis it contains on why China has grown the way it has over the last forty years.

My post Sānlǐtún 三里屯/ 798 urban China flux state of mind has found the few interviews I have managed to already watch grounding and interesting. The China Boom Project, a creation of the Asia Society, has over the last couple of years engaged in a process of interviews, where leading commentators have recorded their thoughts on this country’s evolving state of development, bringing unique insights into what has been going on under the surface here in China.

There is a cross-section of related material primarily categorized under six time periods: Inheritance (Pre-1978), Emancipation (1978-1984), Reckoning (1985-1989), Rebirth (1990s), Overdrive (2000s) and Prospects. The interviews can also be accessed in relation to four distinct threads: Capitalism, Globalization, The Party and Crisis Management. It is well worth finding some time for.

There were three points that particularly stood out for me when reading Rob Gifford’s China Road atop train, bus and dormitory bunks while travelling around Xinjiang this summer, and which led me to a surprising conclusion. The first point was the reality of the historical context that present day Chinese governance finds itself placed within. That ever since the first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, created a unified China; a centralised, autocratic form of governance has been required to keep the whole thing together.

The second point that stood out, was that the tributary system, and the sense of control it meant to Chinese officialdom, really did mean that the European led pressure to turn a civilization into a Nation State, with the need to delineate borders and protect them, would lead the Chinese government to naturally see the Tibetan plateau, the Xinjiang land mass and the outer reaches of Inner Mongolia as Chinese, and necessarily so.

Third, that it is a Han Chinese government, and not any of the minority groups, that leads this contemporary, unified Chinese State. And that this same government is doing its best to Hanify this huge country, to the extent that a majority Han population does or will exist at least down to the size of major urban centres, with the consequences this may have for political reform.

Taking these points together we get all the contradictions and paradoxes of present day China, as well as reasons behind the contrasting predictions of what future China will be. I might as well throw in my own two cents worth, as I try and work out a little for myself what is bound up inside these fluid, or not so fluid borders that I am living within.

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Questions surrounding the nature of Time and Humanity can certainly fill the mind when living a life in China. Whether, as in recent days, the questions surrounding the nature of Humanity relate to the incomprehensible tragedy at the school in Hanzhong, with the knife attack on those small children. Or whether the issue of Time can be related to a trip we took last week to distribute clothes in the mountains. The plan had been to get back to Xi’an about 5 in the afternoon but we were still out and about in the mountains at nightfall, not so surprising, however the Chinese drivers without even a word to the wise decided to stop for supper at around 10, much to the surprise of many who had had other plans. I am quite used to the latter scenario, I do hope I never get used to hearing stories like the former, no matter how many more of these similar cases we do end up hearing about. 

This is by way of a small introduction to a continued interest I have in trying to understand a little of Chinese philosophy, of which I know basically nothing but hopefully will continue to pay a little attention to through these notes. It was noted in an article I read recently, The Chinese View of Time- A Passage to Eternity by Manuel Dy Jr, that the ethical strain of Chinese philosophy, concerning the nature of and quest for humanity/ virtue, has historically superseded questions that delve into the more abstract notions of space and time, matter and spirit. Thus, conceptions of time with regard the Chinese mind, are difficult to clearly distinguish from the nature of humanity and what can be referred to as virtue. For me, that seems no bad thing and of some interest. Here, I will very briefly offer a simple introduction to Confucianist and Daoist conceptions of Time. (more…)

When you start off the day in the saddle, the sun already up, breathing fresh air beneath blue skies that disappear off towards the mountains in the distance, you could be forgiven for thinking you are riding out on the plains, and not, as in reality, up Chang’An Lu on your bike, with the Shaanxi TV tower off to your right. However, when you are heading for your 8 o’clock class of Chinese language learning, knowing, for a change, you are going to ace the written character test you are about to be given, it does all feel as good as life on the prairies. Happy days in downtown Xi’an, otherwise known as: the Epic Centre of Modern China.

*Though as a quick update, the above having been noted on Friday, I am now, Monday lunchtime, just recovering from cycling in a dust storm more representative of life for the Tuareg nomad than the prairie rancher. Oh Xi’an!

I will continue by briefly reflecting on an historical undercurrent of this modern China, that of Confucianism.  I am in the process of attempting to write a second note built on last week’s reference to Chinese philosophy and Time, but, as I am one of the slowest readers in the world and I am coming at this material from a standing start, I may have to wait a week or so for any reflections to be forthcoming. So, I will here first outline a couple of things that have caught my attention this week in relation to this topic and that will maybe form the basis of a few more notes going forward. One is quite straightforward: it is a referral to a site I have known about for a while but haven’t spent enough time time visiting. It includes, as the sub-title of the blog goes, an articulation of “Ancient Chinese Thought in Modern American Life”, the Blog is called The Useless Tree. (more…)

A prolific blogger on things China, David Wolf from Silicon Hutong, noted last week:

China will reach maturity not when it returns to the hubristic self-adulation of The Qing emperors, but when it learns to walk a middle path in its approach to things foreign, assigning value to ideas, innovations, systems and people based not on their origin, but on their intrinsic merits. The country could once afford to forego this middle path, but today it is at odds with everything China seeks to accomplish in a global economy, polity, and society.

Adam Daniel Mezei, fromAdam Daniel Mezei, butchered, by his own admission, David’s note, to conclude:

China will reach maturity not when it returns to the hubristic self-adulation of the Qing emperors, but rather when it begins to adopt a Western, or “foreign,” approach to time, assigning a near-commodity value to its passage, not squandering it as in days of yore. Like a true Westerner, time should be devoted to only the most deserving of projects and endeavors. China could once afford to forego this extreme path, but today the country is at odds with everything it seeks to accomplish in a global economy, polity, and society.

I would, however, be inclined to disagree and suggest that the West may only reach maturity when it forgoes assigning a near- commodity value to times passage. It seems to me that there is value in the contrived expediency of time only when it comes together with a second value, that of human exchange and mutual respect.

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I will hang in there with this particular story as I have followed this saga so far. It seems those Utopian hopes of mine for Google to stay in China, even though they may have been slightly misplaced, have been dashed. google.cn is now google.com.hk and even my google.com searches seem to be being redirected to Hong Kong, for now at least (update: 27/03- no longer, .com again). This means that those in mainland China, who although at present have unrestricted access, may soon have no access at all to Google search engines; that is if this new domain, as seems likely, is duly blocked by the Great Chinese Firewall. Or will the GFW be left to take charge of those not quite acceptable searches?

The devil I am sure, as has been the case throughout this story, will be in the detail; of the searches made and the results that are actually thrown up. There will also be a question mark now hanging over remaining Google services, though hopefully (email) gmail accounts are not seen as too much of a threat. We could even say that gmail is less of a concern than other email accounts, as we have after all been made aware of the penetrability of the Google accounts, so blocking them doesn’t seem so necessary. Or is that just a perverse form of wishful thinking?

Here are a few articles about today’s decision, the first from Julen at Chinayouren, who was particularly prescient and just a few days ago made some interesting observations about Google’s choice of action. If you also go back through his archives, particularly for January, he has over the last couple of months posted alot of insightful information about some of the technical and practical issues involved on this subject. The other articles linked to below discuss in order: the breaking news, a brief overview of the situation, the Chinese perspective on this decision, Google founder Brin’s view, a foreign local’s take on the news… and a couple of summary pearls of wisdom.

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Here is a list of articles that describe the frailties, or foretell the collapse, of the Chinese economy and maybe even the social structure of China. They have all come from the China news cycle over the last couple of weeks, most have been picked up through the Hao Hao Report. Their inclusion marks my retreat from a daily engagement, over the last few months, with that cycle. I have never been one for losing my self in the news of the day, here or at home, but by engaging here a little more recently I have certainly gotten more of a sense of the China news out their and the orchestrators of that news. I will endeavor to keep abreast of things but not quite in the same way. As always we’ll see how we go.

Below this list is an introduction to one of the articles; which draws a parallel between the over heated greed and growth of the Toyota Company and the present stage of economic development in China, predicting the inevitability of crisis. Further on is an exchange that I had with Charlie from Chengdu Living (apologies for getting Charlie involved again here) while briefly commenting on this article on the Hao Hao Report. It was only the third time ever I have made an extended contribution to a comments section, so I note it here for my own sense of reference but also as an optimistic interlude between these various prognoses of China doom:

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Now, if we can consider Google a “smart horse”, and why wouldn’t we, then according to Zhao Qi Zheng, Google will be galloping freely (again) in China before too long. Zhao, a spokesman for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, recently inverted the famous Chinese proverb (WSJ): ‘a good horse will never return to graze on grass it has already passed by’, by noting: “If there is good grass, why give up? A good horse wants to eat good grass. So the horse that returns is a smart horse.” Indeed.

No matter the validity or not of such an analogy, this may be a good moment to introduce the Google founder Sergey Brin’s recent on stage interview at the 2010 TED Talks (see video below). An interesting interview that gave an insight into the issues that Google have been wrestling with and which more importantly, also offered a small insight into the mind of one of the key figures affected by the wild machinations that are going on beneath keyboards across China and beyond.

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With my head in the Google cloud[s] this past week it was nice to be brought back down to Earth China with a friend’s visit from Xinjiang and another’s return from overseas. One of my girlfriend’s hometown friends passed through from Xinjiang, where he works as a doctor, and another friend returned from 2 years studying in the UK and by the sounds of it some much enjoyed travels around Europe. Their visits and the beginning of my holiday meant this was a good week.

Secretary Clinton’s speech on “Internet Freedom” did, however, give me a slight sense of foreboding, while the somewhat ironic same day announcement by The New York Times that they are going to start charging for access to online content was certainly food for thought. It was not simply the issues surrounding direct political censorship of information that came sharply into view this week but that indirect censorship may increasingly be part of our western world, due to the cost of access being too much for many. (more…)