Sunday, October 27, 2013

A One Yuan Note Up His Nose




Abbey Road” sounded beautiful last night driving my kids back from school, and then again this morning, dropping them off.   Playlists turning on random are what I usually default to but an album is a cohesive artistic expression, the songs were meant to be heard together, they have been heard together countless times and while I know I could queue up the album on my iPod, I don’t.  It is lost in digital list within, with 149 other Gigs of music.  Putting the physical CD, (let alone the vinyl with the warmth and pops and scratches, right where they always were) you’re committed to the entire artistic work.  Sadly, I note how completely anachronistic all of these concerns are.  No Beatles album has a lower nadir than  “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” to my ears.  But when its on:  Paul’s backing vocals on “Come Together”, the harmonies on “Because”, John’s yell on “She’s So Heavy”, the three of them trading guitar solos at the end of the Medley . . . it radiates, a “sun king.”

OK, OK.  There are limits to the amount of diligence you can do, if you try to post blogs daily.  But I probably should have invested four or five minutes yesterday to see if the emperor Akihito had ever actually visited China, before suggesting that it would be a wise thing that he did.  Your humble blogger committed a 似是而非[1] of haste.  The occupant of the Chrysanthemum throne, the only reigning monarch who still uses the title “emperor” did come to China, one year before me in 1992, twenty-one years ago, this week.  http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/23/world/akihito-visit-stirring-bitterness-among-chinese.html

And so perhaps some credit is due to Emperor Akihito as a potential source of inspiration for Queen Elizabeth II’s Republic of Ireland visit, rather than the other way around.   And be that as it may, the trip obviously did not facilitate a major reconciliation between China and Japan.  During the visit, the Emperor stayed close to official script.  He did not apologize but rather acknowledged that Japan`s wartime occupation had “inflicted great suffering on the people of China.”

It is fascinating to pause and read a few articles about the China of 1992.  China was, of course, still largely an international pariah, still three years after the events of June 4, 1989.  It was a different time, when Japan was still the regional economic giant and was, in a way, showing great magnanimity, or practicality engaging at a time when others would not.  Bill Clinton had yet to be elected and was on the campaign trail talking about the “butchers from Baghdad to Beijing.” Deng Xiao Ping had yet to make his famous southern tour, opening the country irreversibly to international trade.  The article mentions that trade between China and Japan had reached US $20.2B, which must have seemed like a lot.  The same figure for 2011 was US $345B.  Chinese citizens were told to keep quiet and not protest publicly and for the most part this is what transpired. 

And it would appear, therefore, that it was a missed opportunity.   China and Japan both had their purposes for the visit, at that time.  Secure international legitimacy, expand trade, and broadcast the essential civility of Japan and China to domestic audiences and the people of the world.  Nothing wrong with these, per say.  But neither Japan, nor Emperor Akihito were ready to apologize, he, no doubt after detailed consultation, did not do so.  The Chinese people were served up a lite, feel-good showcase that did little to address, let alone assuage historical bitterness.  Most Chinese leaders quoted at the time, like Beijing mayor Chen Xitong, who would later be deposed, sound robotic and uninspired.  Nothing like the spontaneous “wow” repeated three times by the Irish prime minister, when Queen Elizabeth II, spoke to the room in Gaelic.

The Japanese public sphere is more mature.  Rights to freedom of speech are, for example, protected and enforced.  The far right were not happy, at the time of the visit.  They would presumably broadcast considerable acrimony were the emperor consider apologizing outright today.   But I don’t think their frustration would fray the fabric of Japanese society beyond repair.  Japan is better prepared to have a mature discussion of this topic in the public sphere, if only because rights are respected.  And it is not impossible for the emperor to consider an outright apology, if only because further snooping about revealed that he was proposing a visit to South Korea in 2012, for the explicit purpose of offering just such an apology.   http://japandailypress.com/emperor-akihito-wishes-to-visit-south-korea-will-apologize-if-necessary-2112902/

And there is nothing wrong with a missed opportunity.  As long as you learn from it.  If Akihito were to visit China again, I think he could accomplish much more if he extended the same offer for full apology to China that he appears to be offering to South Korea.  Without knowing all the nuance of translation and what may have been lost, the sadness reflected upon in 1992 and the “apology” offered to South Korea last year appear to be different.  And a visit these days would also be different for so many reasons, if only because public discussion would not be so easy to control in China.  But I do maintain that Queen’s visit suggested potential, heretofore unrealized, by the visit of Akihito’s from 1992.  Using clear language that unconditionally apologizes, would be one step forward.  And as I’d suggested if Akihito were prepared to speak in Mandarin, to the Chinese people, if only for a phrase, it would be symbolic and powerful and another step towards reconciliation. 

A brief aside; yesterday was a fine fall day:  I shot some hoops with my daughters, I decided to take as many pictures of green things as I could on the way home in anticipation of them all departing soon and then, we got back and carved our pumpkin.  I used to hate Hong Kong and San Francisco, as you’d carve your pumpkin, set it out and it would rot in the heat a few days later, before reaching 10/31. 



In the evening my younger daughter of nine put on a play for my wife and myself.  It was a grand, Euripidian-like affair.  I was thinking what a fine playwright she’ll be and perhaps an actress as well, but her vision is somewhat larger.  It may be that she ends up as a a promoter and a mall developer as well.  During intermission we were taken to the store she’d set up for intermission, introduced to shops and told to spend money.  And we were asked to use hard RMB currency for whatever it was we wanted.  I bought a book for three RMB.  My eagle-eyed daughter pointed out that one of the RMB 1.00 notes that I’d presented was a fake.  This happens in China.  Usually you wind up with counterfeit 50’s or 100 RMB notes.  But this bill was no ordinary counterfeit.  On the back was printed some anti-Party propaganda, courtesy of Fa Lun Gong.

The rough translation is something like:

“Heavenly god, over throw the Chinese Communist Party.
Withdraw from the Party and save your life.
Where are you going to look for peace?
Withdraw from Party’s team.
Where are you going to find happiness?
A heart, which has truth and endurance.” 



It seemed to me a poignant reminder of how precarious the pathway is forward for the PRC is as it moves millions of people a year through the “checkout counter” I’d referenced two posts back, en route to a middle class existence.  Regardless of whether Fa Lun Gong was or was not a group seeking the overthrow of state power in the past, before they were cracked-down upon, they clearly are now.  And as with insurrectionist messages passed in holiday moon cakes, or seemingly religious movements like the Taiping or the White Lotus morphing into Buddhist, or Daoist or proto-Christian rebellions for state power, the manner in which China’s order is so fragile, is often so hard for Westerners to understand.  But clearly it is quite real.  And the threats are not simply those of the web 3.0 social networking, but sometimes as simple as One-Yuan note that made it into my hands, and would have continued on its way, were it not for my daughter and her budding business acumen. 

If I see Mr. Mustard, I’ll offer him the note for his other nostril.





[1] sìshì'érfēi:  apparently right but actually wrong; specious (idiom)


1 comment:

  1. nice one. interesting segue from beatleland to chinaland.

    ReplyDelete