Eric's Beijing Diary

There's an Internet joke making the rounds. I got it from my Kurdish friend:

Last month, a world-wide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was:

"Please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey didn’t get any results because...:
1. In Africa they didn't know what “food" means.
2. In Eastern Europe they didn't know what “honest" means.
3. In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortage" means.
4. In China they didn't know what "opinion" means.
5. In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" means.
6. In South America they didn't know what "please" means.
7. In USA they didn't know what “the rest of the world" means.

Of course, I was most interested in the stereotype of China. Hmmm...is it really true that Chinese people do not have opinions?

No, I wouldn't say that. But the stereotype is not completely wrong, either, because there seem to be certain key issues in this country where, although most people have opinions about them, it is very difficult to determine whether or not these opinions are really their own.

I guess I became alerted to this because I have had many conversations with people in China about Japan. When I tell people here in China that I am originally from Japan, I very often hear them say, "We hate Japanese." When I first came to China, this statement didn't bother me that much, because I have read the history. The kinds of hideous crimes perpetrated upon women and children during the "Rape of Nanking" are not mentionable.

After living in China for awhile, though, I began to notice something different. I think the thing that set it off was the sequence of riots in the city of Shanghai in April of 2005. It really began to look like the government was using the young people to make a point that they did not seem to be able to make themselves diplomatically. Since that time, I have paid attention to how Japan is portrayed in the mainstream Chinese media. It is interesting to watch. Japan is constantly compared to Germany in terms of the sincerity of its apologies. And in documentaries, there is much talk about the actions of the Japanese against Chinese, and almost no talk about the actions of Chinese against Chinese.

Of course I still have many interesting conversations with Chinese young people about a whole host of issues, but on a few of these key things, it is getting kinda boring. I can just about always guess what they are going to say, because I read and watch the media, and I know what the government wants them to believe.