China's Communist Party: A Grassroots Perspective

Recently, my office was visited by a local office of the Chinese Communist Party to establish a formal relationship with my company. My thoughts are below:

The Party is a very top-down, protocol driven organization. This meeting was with grassroots workers from the Party, meaning from a sub-district office. At the meeting, they hung up the Communist Party flag on the wall, and before we began, we stood facing the flag as the Chinese national anthem was played. At the closing of the meeting, we stood to the Internationale. The meeting proceeded with strict protocol, leaders sat at the front, one gave introductory remarks, and then the Secretary gave most of the other comments. In general, it was more of a lecture as opposed to discussion. Non-Party members were not allowed to speak.

The Party is struggling with how to stay relevant in today's China. Throughout the entire meeting, the Secretary seemed to be promoting the benefits of being affiliated with the Party, for example, mentioning how they can help introduce us to people and organizations that can collaborate, and how we can be mentioned in the Party's publications.  To the company's Party members, the representatives encouraged them to recruit new members, and reminded them that the Party branch regularly organizes talent shows and singles mixers.  For reference, out of a company of over 100 mostly young (under 30) employees, only four are Party members. This is a far cry from decades ago, when Party membership was widely sought by young and upwardly mobile Chinese.

At the same time, the Party is remaining true to its principles, to remain as the primary vehicle for personal betterment, and one through which members of society can contribute to their communities.  The representatives reminded us that they hold courses and lectures on being better workers, better citizens as well as numerous volunteer opportunities.

Beijing's August Exodus

It is August again, and Beijing, like many large and dynamic urban centers, is experiencing an outflow of many of its foreign yuppie types as they move on to schooling, better opportunities, or whatever the next step in life might be.  It can be sad to see so many friends leave, and surprising to find oneself several years in, especially when many of us planned to be here anywhere from a few months to at most a year (August 28th marks four full years for me, not enough to receive "China Expert" status, but longer than many).  Instead of writing a nostalgic post decrying friendships lost and a community in constant flux, I am reposting a witty blog entry from nottherebeijing. Enjoy!

Oh No! Everyone's Leaving China! 

Ah August, that month of burning discontent, because like it's totally pretty hot out and like the sky is full of icky pollution.

So people are totally leaving in droves.

Leaving is in. If you're not leaving, you're just totally out.

I sorta want to leave, just so I can write a deeply moving, tinged with remorse "I'm Leaving China" blog post. I would be good at it because I've read lots of books about China & I know how to use chopsticks.

Shit. I. Even. Have. A. Weibo. Account. (but I don't use it very much)

Let's be clear (for once).

I understand why everyone is leaving: China kinda sucks.

But everyone has to weigh that suck factor against their needs.

You probably came here with one of these expectations

a) finding yourself

b) finding yourself a girl

c) making a shit ton of money

d) killing time before grad school (see finding yourself)

e) doing something besides working at Home Depot (see: teaching English)

More than likely, you discovered that China totally sucks, but you had a good time because you got drunk, had a lot of awkward cross-cultural sex and rocked with totally cool bands like not there.

But what I'm trying to say is, don't leave now. All the smart ones are getting out, sure, but that's really an opportunity for the rest of us.  Hell, I'm glad Custer is leaving because he set the bar too high. I don't want to make documentaries, I just want a wad of cash and a poorly recorded album.

Ditto for Kitto. He made me feel bad about the new bespoke tappas bar I was planning on opening in Harbin.

So with all the heavy hitters except the old dudes that do that Sinica Podcast leaving, now's the time to make your mark.

If you stick around long enough, you might be able to move from teaching, to writing unreadable gibberish in expat mags, to PR / Advertising, to "China Expert Status."

And China expert status is where it's at, yo.

 

Chinese New Year

Monday marked the first day of the lunar new year.  This is typically the biggest holiday for Chinese people, when people go home to celebrate the new year with their families.  

In Beijing, the city clears out.  Migrant workers, the unskilled workers who come to the cities for jobs in construction, cleaning and in restaurants, return early to the countryside.  As a result, in the weeks before Chinese New Year, the city starts to slow down as the various establishments close.  Office workers leave later, some rushing to finish projects before their work schedules are disrupted by the mandated week-long holiday, and others killing time on their computers, waiting as the new year approaches.  Now, the once 20-million strong  city lies in slumber, and those of us who have stayed behind are amazed at the absence of crowds, the open roads and of the availability of seats on the subway.  

Of course, to say that the city is asleep is slightly misleading.  Chinese New Year is marked by the constant sound of firecrackers.  On the eve itself, fireworks are launched from homes and driveways all over the city.  Then, throughout the week, sporadic bursts of firework displays break through short lived moments of silence, creating, in the city's inhabitants, a tolerance for explosions characteristic of people living in a warzone.  

As the fireworks' echo drains away and evening wearily drags into early morning, the city retires and leaves behind streets strewn with scraps of explosives and red ribbons.  Some  love the way Chinese celebrate the new year, others are annoyed, and some leave as soon as they can.   For me, it always a special time when this country that is changing at such a rapid speed slows down for just a few days.  Happy new year and year of the dragon. 

Thoughts on: What is the Chinese language?

The Economist recently shared two opposing views of Chinese linguistics.  I have included them in bold with my comments.

In brief, Chinese traditionalists believe:

1) Chinese is one language with dialects.
I would argue this is a highly political statement to make.  As part of its political rhetoric, China states that it is one people comprised of fifty some minorities.  Having everyone, from different ways of life and different cultures, speaking different dialects from the same language, works to reinforce that notion.  One might disagree, but how many times have pro-Tibet groups argued for Tibetan independence by citing the fact that Tibetans do not speak Chinese or that Chinese language is forced upon them?

2) Chinese is best written in the character-based hanzi system.
How does one define best? See below.

3) All Chinese read and share the same writing system, despite speaking in different ways.
All Chinese is a bit extreme. Mongolians, Manchus, Tibetans (just to name the most obvious examples) all have their own writing systems distinct from Chinese characters.  Most now can read and write in Chinese characters due to the education system, but this was by no means a natural progression.


Western linguists tend to respond:

1) Chinese is not a language but a family; the "dialects" are not dialects but languages.
Western linguists define dialects as part of the same language if they are intercomprehensible.  If they are not, then they are distinct languages, not dialects. If a Mandarin speaking Beijinger listened to a Cantonese speaker, he or she would not understand what was being said.  If one accepts this definition, then one must accept this conclusion. 

With that said, many regional dialects/languages are, however, intercomprehensible.  Chinese in the same province or same region can often understand each other's dialects even though they cannot speak them.

2) Hanzi-based writing is unnecessarily difficult; the characters do not represent "ideas" but "morphemes" (small and combinable units of meaning, like the morphemes of any language). Pinyin (the standard Roman system) could just as easily be used for Chinese. Puns, wordplay and etymology might be sacrificed, but ease of use would be enhanced.
Chinese characters are in part composed of morphemes (items that represent meaning), but there are a lot of characters with phonetic indicators (meaning they indicate pronunciation).  Regardless of how one looks at the linguistic analysis, what is meant by best represented?  Arguably, one could communicate with just pinyin, although there would undoubtedly be the occasional confusion that would not have arisen if characters were used. 

However, this is not the question at hand.  Is the best writing system to use one that solely reflects pronunciation?  One could question, is the Roman alphabet the best writing system for English?  In English, there are countless of words for which the writing does not reflect pronunciation. Languages such as French and German have entered the English language, and while the written word has retained its original form, the pronunciation is distinctly English.  One could very well argue that we could rid ourselves of this by using a phonetic system such as IPA.  Aside from being more work than it's worth, there is a history that is lost in the transition. Most Chinese would say the same about their own language. 

In addition, pinyin itself is not free from problems.  Some sounds and letters are not represented consistently.  For example in yan and yang, the vowel a makes different sounds in each.  With chu and qu, the written form of the consonants change while the vowels remain constant, while for the actual pronunciation the opposite is true.

3) Modern hanzi writing is basically Mandarin with the old characters in a form modified by the People's Republic. Everyone else (Cantonese speakers, say) must either write Mandarin or significantly alter the system to write their own "Chinese".
I have heard Chinese people speaking formally in dialect, and the structure is similar to how it would be in Mandarin.  However, is this the natural way in which dialects are expressed in formal discourse or is it the result of Mandarin language education?  When dialect speakers write colloquial sentences, they use different Chinese characters to express themselves than they would in Mandarin, and a non-speaker of the dialect would not necessarily understand.  I am certainly not the expert on this, though. Any thoughts?

What's Your Exit Strategy?

As one can tell from my last post, I have been contemplating my China exit strategy and have been submitting applications to American law schools.  I have found myself going back and forth.  Aside from missing the people, friends, language and food, various issues have crossed my mind.  Is it worth it to pick up and leave everything here behind?  Is going to graduate school worth losing a few years of potential work experience, salary and connections? 

However, a few issues have started to make me think that maybe now is the right time to leave China.

• The China Law Blog has commented on some unusual signs in the Chinese economy. An increasing number of Chinese companies working with foreign firms from various industries have exhibited behavior such as walking away from deals, disputing credit, sending faulty products or not sending at all.  According to the author, "Chinese companies that are going out of business or believe they are going out of business have an annoying tendency to ship bad or fake or no product at all."
• For years rising housing prices have padded the pockets of Chinese middle class. The Wall Street Journal reported that housing prices have begun to fall (see this for a more recent report).  Only month to month data is reportable, but could this be indicative of a larger trend?
• The age of China as the world's factory is ending.  Prices are rising and the glut of blue collar workers, which to large effect fueled China's growth, is starting to disappear.  While the extend of China's manufacturing demise is disputed, it is doubtful China can remain an export oriented manufacturing giant growing at double digit growth indefinitely. 

The evidence here is far from conclusive, but enough to make one think hard about how long China's miracle of decades long growth can last, as well how long one should stay here.

Thoughts after three years

After three years in the capital Beijing, I took a few months off at home to prepare for graduate school applications.  Now that I've put some distance between myself and China, I thought I'd put a few points of reflection about my experience there.

-Anything and everything is negotiable.  This will resonate with people who live there and find that deals can be made anywhere, not just in street markets but also in restaurants, bars, shopping centers, and taxis.  On my way to Singapore, the staff at the airport informed me that my bags were overweight by some 20kg (40+lbs).  After being in China for so long, I knew there had to be some wiggle room.  And so, after some negotiation I ended up paying less than a third of the total fine. Not bad.

-The air really is bad.  Most of us put up with the poor air quality in Beijing, although comparing Beijing air to a few packs a day is a popular conversation starter at expatriate mixers.  But nothing will make you feel that difference like spending extended time in a country with blue skies every day.   Many in Beijing are familiar with the fact that the US Embassy publishes air quality indicators on Twitter, which often measure off the charts.  

-Chinese are very serious about studying abroad.  I've written before about how Chinese students are flocking to American undergraduate programs.  However, more and more Chinese are applying for US law degrees.  The LSAC (administers the LSAT exam) has published information showing that Asia, and specifically China and Australia, have been the big areas for growth in terms of the number of LSAT exams taken.  Obviously, most of the test takers I saw were Chinese when I took the exam in Beijing.  However, when I took the LSAT again in Singapore, a large number of my fellow test takers were (PRC) Chinese.  This trend will undoubtedly continue in the foreseeable future, but questions such as how bad the backlash will be as more Chinese students swarm American schools, as well as how much of this is a blind grab for foreign credentials, are all open questions.  

Chinasmack Diaspora: Are We Content to Let Our DNA Define US

Recently, my article entitled Are We Content to Let Our DNA Define Us was published on the blog Chinasmack.com.  Chinasmack's Diaspora series is a look at the personal experiences and perspectives of overseas Chinese communities.  You can read other articles in the series here.  

A Chinese friend once responded harshly when asked, "Are you Japanese?" by a young child who had approached him on the street. His response struck me as strange. After all, my identity was always a topic of discussion. As a child of a Chinese-American father and Caucasian mother, I looked neither. I have thick dark hair, a long nose, large eyes, and slightly colored skin. In fact, I was more often mistaken for Hispanic or Native American rather than Asian or white. My identity was discussed among close friends, acquaintances, and even with strangers who I bumped into in a bar or with whom I had a brief encounter on the street.

Plus, I got it all the time. Meeting someone for the first time usually meant that he or she might give me that slightly elongated, curious gaze, which was followed by an awkward "I'm sorry..I can't tell, are you [insert misconceived identity here]?" Or, in contrast, when meeting someone Asian, my appearance wouldn't merit a second glance, but my last name would always surprise them. "Wait…. why do you have a Chinese last name?" they might ask. In time, I got used to it, like a high school graduate who puts up with questions like "What are you going to major in? What do you want to do when you graduate from college?" You know people are good intentioned and genuinely curious, but when you answer the same question to all your relatives, family friends, teachers and random acquaintances, you still answer out of courtesy, but each time you draw a deeper sigh as you prepare your now well-practiced response.

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