Notes From Xi'an 西安随感

from The Illustrated Book of Laozi 2008 by Zhou Chuncai

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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With the onset of summer interrupted by frequent rain showers it is may be not a bad time to partake in a bit of reflection, particularly with regard to a few of the transportational changes that have ridden into Xi’an in recent years; arriving on a wind of progress, though on the back of an almighty stimulus package, one that has included a few unpleasant side effects. The laid-back nature and slightly underdeveloped cityscape of Xi’an that I so liked upon arrival is changing.

There are so many cars on the roads now that it is even for me, let alone the slightly aged members of the local community, hard to believe that when I first arrived in China’s Western capital I really didn’t have to pay too much attention when crossing the road and never even consider waiting at a road junction. Not so now, walking between the lanes of oncoming traffic is not only restricted by increased car use but also by government directed traffic attendants, who, in such a short time, have vigorously put into place a road crossing etiquette that was almost impossible to ever imagine existing just a few years ago.

Having ridden a bike on a daily basis over the last four years it is easy, if not a little depressing, to recognize the increased volume of traffic that I now peddle, cough and occasionally splutter passed. ‘Passed’ though being the operative word, the term traffic jam or dǔ chē (堵车) has certainly entered the common cultural lexicon of Chinese cities over the last few years and Xi’an is no exception. I can often find myself leaving sleek blacked out and branded motor vehicles in my slip stream, as I jump between lanes and lights on my US designed Trek bike.

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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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Two days ago in Xi’an, while workmen were planting pine trees into the central reservation of the new upgraded Chang’an Road, I could hardly make out the tall television tower a short distance behind them for the polluted air that surrounded it. However, while today the workmen were still planting trees, the TV tower, itself recently refurbished, was sparkling white and clear in a beautiful blue sky.  And there was I, led to believe that those Copenhagen talks were “at best flawed, at worst chaotic” or even worse a “climate crime scene”. Not so, by the looks of the results on the ground here in happy, naturalistic China.

Now, maybe there is no call for the use of such a jocular tone towards what is obviously a very serious issue. An issue with an agenda that, in recent weeks, has drawn much brow beating and finger pointing from members of government and civil society alike. However, I have also attempted to consider these issues a little from the perspective of having lived in China for a few years.

The first thing to note, that pollution in China, for the Chinese, is aserious issue. (Documentary Photography: Pollution in China). Second, the recognition, that the processes adopted and the new relationships involved in the decisions taken at an inter-state level are of fundamental importance going deeper into the 21st century. Third, it would be better for all concerned in such inter-state processes, such as those that took place in Copenhagen, if the participants were able to recognise their own personal/cultural perspectives, attitudes and circumstances, and the context that defines them and that the same situation with different sets of conditions exist for others. Finally, it is good to see so many trees regularly being planted around this sprawling urban centre of Western China!

Pollution in China for the Chinese

So, the first thing to note is that although the scale of China’s carbon emissions is a world problem, it is still first and foremost a Chinese problem, for the Chinese people. It is due to centuries of development and historical levels of emissions across the globe, that China’s present position has been placed into such sharp relief.  There are at least a couple of strands to this. The first is that in taking into account China’s historical sense of isolationism and self-determination, any debate and dialogue is perhaps best understood within the context of responsibility, for and by the Chinese people. This might not be liked by some but is maybe a necessary perspective to recognise. This may explain why such an emphasis is placed by Chinese negotiators on “domestic statistical, monitoring and evaluation”, and is not in fact a de facto form of dis-responsibility.

Secondly, that the security of China’s Developing Economy, especially in this unclear and unstable economic time, will be seen to be of great short-medium term importance and not something to be guided by a global summit agenda, especially one hammered out through sleeves-rolled up, back slapping, back room agreements. Wen Jia Bao expressed this tricky dichotomy between Economic Development and Environmental Salvation, when he noted that: “China is now at an important stage of accelerated industrialisation and urbanization, and, given the predominant role of coal in our energy mix, we are confronted with a special difficulty in emissions reduction…we have set the new target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level.”

It must be noted that the jump we are expecting these developing nations to take, is not a small step, as alluded to, again by Wen Jia Bao: “To reduce carbon dioxide emissions on such a large scale and over such an extended period of time will require tremendous efforts on our part.” It is also not a process that we had to face in our own development, or certainly not one we had the foresight to recognise or, as is more likely, were willing to address. It is easy to take the moral high ground on the basis of scientific data and impending planetary/ humanitarian doom; it is another to actually be those in power who have to make those decisions. It might seem clear to some but they carry different cultural, social and political baggage. Like it or not, disappointment and indignationwill not get you very far, though of course natural reactions.

Global Groupings and the Maintenance of State Sovereignty

If the United Nations wasn’t discredited enough during the shenanigans leading to the conflict in Iraq, then Copenhagen may shine a brighter light upon how we are going to be able to decide globally significant issues between existing sovereign states. Especially states like China, that have such a strong sense of national identity and autonomy. We also need to consider what would be defined as “legally binding” in this context. Remember that Kyoto has been held up in recent days as a legally binding Climate Agreement but that it was comprehensively written off at the time by environmentalists as not going far enough and was not even signed by the US. Legally binding it might have been but it doesn’t seem to have carried much weight.

Going forward, there of course needs to be what existed in Copenhagen: the main players getting around the table or teleconferencing suites and discussing these issuesfurther. Politicians can talk of being held to ransom and not letting agreements be dominated by minority members, but if those members are the US or the Chinese then there is not a lot that can be done: they need to be onside and that needs to be remembered when the bitter lessons, drawn from the recognition of impotence, are learnt. Like it or not, vis-à-vis Climate Changethe US has never really come on board; we may just find, in the time we still have, that the Chinese are more willing.

Contextualisation, Indignation and Tree Planting

Perhaps, only by understanding the Chinese context and attitude and giving space and room for understanding and dialogue, will the greatest polluter the planet may well ever know, continue to sit at the table. Though I suggest there is a greater sense of responsibility there than Copenhagen suggests. This is not simply a doffed cap approach to diplomacybut a recognition of reality. It seems to me that by allowing ourselvestoissue ‘Demands’and letting our own indignation get the better of us, we do nothing but antagonise those we are appealing to. Life isn’t what we expect or even what we desire and very rarely is it or should it be made up of demands made on others, even if those demands are made from our own earnest sense of responsibility. Life, or one that takes a peaceful, harmonious path, tends to be made from holding a light to ourselves, as well as to others.

Finally, I am jolly happy to regularly see new parks appearing, tree lined avenues created and sometimes even prime real estate land becoming wooded city centre oases. Now, by no means is China about to be defined as a neo-naturalistic landscape but if we can but see the light or the potential for photosynthesising light at least, in the polluted darkness that often shrouds the street scapes of down-town Chinese cities, we can see the light elsewhere and we can move forward.

Belief And What’s Left

Maybe time isn’t on our planet’s side but indignation, insults and socio-cultural subjectivity aren’t going to keep the Chinese at the table, and they need to be there. If the European Union nations and the US had shown more of the selflessness that, in reality, is now being expected to some degree from the Chinese, then we wouldn’t be here worrying so much. And please, don’t kid yourselves that a turn to democracy in China would make these issues and decisions any easier, at least in the short-term, I don’t believe it would. This is not a case against reform just a note that it would, one, not necessarily be the all seeing and doing saviour that we might like it to be, and two, such political reform here, in my opinion, is a very long way off, maybe even something for another world or life- time. If I have become anything since living in China it is a realist, though, with a still hard to extinguish belief in humanity. And from my own anecdotal and generalising experience, a belief in the Chinese people, at least as much as I have in humanity generally. As many Evangelical- Missionary Christians here might tell you, belief is all we have, but as I might add, the rest is up to us. The Chinese, I might proffer, recognise that more than most.

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I woke slowly and with sleep still in my eyes peered out through our new ‘dust-net’. I was soon aware that an inch-thick layer of lunar-like dust had again settled and completely covered the bedroom. I carefully rose from the bed, shaking a thin layer of dust from my hair, that troublingly had managed to find a path inside the net. My girlfriend still lay sleeping peacefully.

I padded through into the living room, creating a clearing trail of footprints as I went. I quickly realized, as I slipped headlong into a three foot high pile of dust, that I had left the window open overnight. We recently however had a nifty new particle-vacuum installed, patented here in Xi’an’s very own High Tech Zone. It is positioned beneath the air-conditioner on the wall. I placed the blue mask that came with it over my mouth and turned it on.

It is a quite wonderful contraption, quietly going about its duties, or rather its single duty: the silent and speedy removal of these pesky white particles as I watch. I am not entirely sure how it works, though water has something to do with it, but it does remarkably manage to distinguish the dust from all the other bits and pieces scattered around the house. Within moments it had syphoned the house clear. I had not enquired, nor had I wished to, about where all this stuff goes to. I did hear, though, that it is trucked up to Taiyuan in Shanxi and loaded onto transporter spacecraft and exported to the moon. All part of China’s New Greener Earth space programme. But, I am not sure.

I was no sooner out of the flat and off to work when I found myself falling footlong into a huge hole in the road: “That wasn’t there yesterday,” I had thought to myself as I descended into the pit. Upon landing and while scrambling to my feet I had looked up to see a couple of friendly Chinese faces peering down at me, they muttered the comforting words “Lao Wai” (foreigner) before continuing on their way.

Once I had clambered out and continued on, I happily consoled myself with the fact that this huge hole outside my home was probably part of Xi’an’s subway construction process, now, so I am also told, visible from space. I hope that in time I may well be allowed a more sedate way of descending into the same place, an electric escalator carrying me from the entrance of my apartment to the underground platform below.

This thought made me think of those moving walkway things that you get in airports, so good for a bit of induced urgency and the correlating sense of being important: “I am a world traveler with countries to go and people to see”. I like those things. To think we could have one here on Yang Jia Cun was quite a great thought and left me feeling rather positive about the day ahead.

When I got to the crossroads, and after looking left and right, I calmly approached the mass of entwined vehicles in front of me. Nonchalantly, I clambered over the bonnet of the first car, squeezed agilely in front of a bus, stepped over the rear saddle of an electric moped, which was sandwiched between two taxis, apologizing as I did so, ducked under an open lorry door and made it to the other side of the road. I turned momentarily to observe again the interwoven pattern of vehicles at the junction of my road, before continuing on my way to work.