It’s not just Beijing, either.
In the morning was talking with a friend in Shenzhen about the relay going through town and he expressed the desire that everyone just let China alone and give them a chance to have a nice day in the sun. I didn’t agree, but thought about it for a while afterward and decided that my boys, 1/2 Chinese, should get to see things even if I don’t necessarily agree.
So yesterday afternoon I took my two boys, ages 1.5 and 3, to see the relay as it was passing just a few blocks from our home here. We lined up along the main street along with everyone else. As it drew near I was very distinctly told (in Chinese): “Effing foreigner. Go home. This 0lympics is ours.”
I was shocked. I turned around to see who would say that. Behind me were a group of relatively well dressed office people, seemingly just out of the office for the festivities. I turned back and they said it again.
I’m surrounded by thousands of rabid, flag waiving patriots and I’m holding two babies, (both of whom are Chinese!!!)–what could I do? I just ignored them. But I’m posting this article I wrote last week and had previously decided not to post.
Attitude in China
I’m, once again stepping into uncharted waters and going to involve politics a bit more than usual. I find it odd that the political (theoretical, fluff, hot air) pieces I write attract more attention than the business pieces. I always thought that people voted and acted out of monetary motivations first and then emotional concerns second, at least in public. But since the political seem to draw so much more spit and vinegar I’m left to believe that either I’m so right about Chinese business that no one can argue or that I’m so wrong about Chinese and US politics that people can’t refrain from commenting. Both could be true, I suppose. A third options could be that my underlying assumptions that people are rational could be completely wrong too. In which case on-line retailers really need to rethink their positions—it’s all about emotion, guys.
Now, on with the show!
I can honestly say that I have rarely if ever been mistreated in China. I don’t count the arguments over quality or the multiple times I’ve been the target of random theft. I mean, I’ve hardly ever been treated badly by my Chinese hosts in terms of politeness and acceptance.
But that changed this last week. Three separate experiences have really damaged my opinion of the depth of Chinese hospitality. First is the excoriating, racist and downright scary language that is being thrown around in China right now towards foreigners in general and the US and France in particular. From actual riots to virtual (internet) lynchings, from racial comments vocalized without knowing I can speak Chinese to outright bullying and intimidation of foreigners shopping at Carefoure. China is moving farther from its goal of “one world” than it has in more than a couple of decades.
You may say I’m over reacting. You may point to the fact that there were riots against the Japanese two years ago and the physical destruction of the US embassy after the US bombed the Chinese embassy (by accident) in Yugoslavia—certainly those events were a bigger deal than now, right? But those two incidents were controlled burns. They were allowed specifically to help Chinese citizens with no other legal outlet for release blow off some steam. That’s how China works.
But today is different. I’ve been saying for almost 15 years that China has national-size insecurity complex. They’ve had it for at least 30 years (if not 100 years), but now you see it daily. They want to be welcomed onto the world stage as a player, but can’t handle the heat from the spotlight. They want the world to think that they have arrived, but expect a free pass for their xenophobic view of domestic and world history. They have the glass and metal buildings and freeways and factories, but except for cheap labor, what inside is really “Chinese?” As one client of mine, who recently came to China, asked: “What do the Chinese believe in other than money?” Well the superiority of (presently constituted) China and the Chinese race, for one.
China claims that it’s not their fault they have a bad attitude; that the world has hated and abused China for the last 100+ years and the world is now scared of the rise of China. I say bullshit to both. Sure China was colonized, what country other than England was not?! (I’ll grant the lingering dislike of the Japanese may be justified) Africa has a much worse history of colonialism and abuse by the West (and now by China) than does China, but the rampant racism and love-it-or-leave-it attitude doesn’t exist there. Similarly there is no hatred of Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand in the West—all Asian Tigers that swamped portions of the US and EU economies in the last 40 years. Sure there were fears of Japanese financial take over of New York in the 80’s. But even a nuclear-capable Japan is not seen as a “threat” simply because they are a financial power. You can’t blame western support of the T!betans on a fear of a financially powerful China. And how come the race card is played against China but none of these other states?
And to even say that its racist is simplistic, at best. If you want racism all you have to do is quote the Chinese President on T!bet—to paraphrase, he’s basically said that without the “parentage” and protection of the Chinese the other 55 minorities in China would be lost to feudalism. China will pull its minorities (dancing and singing) out of feudalism whether they want it or not! More? OK, ask any Chinese if they think that the US should have a black president. Or ask them if they would willingly do business with or even touch a black person. You learn a lot about China when you speak the language.
The famous quote by Liu (the Chinese gold medal hurdler) that he proved that “yellow” people can run just as fast as blacks and whites is a much more damning report on the Chinese mindset than it is on anyone from the West. Does anyone even care what “color” the various Olympians are for their country? Certainly the multi-racial West cares less than the monochromatic Chinese.
The arguments by Chinese to support their racism are not only conflicting but weak. They claim that Westerns don’t understand China, and at the same time claim that the West is trying to split China because we know that all Chinese dynasties split from within rather than fell from without (a very Chinese version of world history, considering the Mongols and Manchus were not “Chinese” until after hundreds of year of assimilation). They claim that the West doesn’t want a powerful China, yet the financial grow (FDI) has, up until the last few years ALL come from either the west or other Asian Democracies. You don’t invest in your “enemies.” What most Chinese aren’t willing to believe is that most foreigners also believe that a rich and powerful and responsible China is in the world’s best interest—but take out “responsible” and you have the US invading Iraq—and nobody, including China, wants that.
China and many of it’s overseas supporters cry foul when anyone says that the Chinese government is this “monolithic” united force. Yet China’s view of a hegemonic western power (the EU and US?) or (even more laughable, a monolithic government controlled media) fighting with both propaganda and military strength is equally absurd to any one that has been educated anywhere outside of China. The Chinese government can and does control a country (and press core) larger than that of the entire EU or US. Yes there are ebbs and flows in the ability to control various parts of the country, but to claim that because the government arm doesn’t always reach as far as Beijing wants shows that China is more egalitarian than monolithic is not just ignorant, it’s completely stupid. A weak dissemination of power does not make China more democratic—it just makes it more volatile.
By contrast, the US can’t even keep two candidates within the same political parties inline let alone agree to a plot for world domination with the EU. As recently as two years ago polls showed that the US disliked the French more than Iran (or China). And does anyone outside of the British government even like the US anymore? How is that a hegemonic plot to suppress the rise of China?! It’s not. No matter how much US citizens act like we are the rulers of the planet or the Chinese blame us for being such, neither the hegemony of the US nor the egalitarianism of China are realities.
Just so we’re all on the same economic page: China’s rise is in the world’s best interest—as a market, as a stable power, as a mature State and any one that thinks otherwise is ignorant, issues of resource scarcity notwithstanding. Grow China grow! Anyone that says otherwise is either a global warming wacko (i.e. falsified green statistics are more important than human lives as the current bio-fuels instigated world food shortages proves) or has their head in the protectionist sands of the past.
CHINA—WELCOME TO THE WORLD STAGE—NOW DEAL WITH IT LIKE THE REST OF US.
Now back down to a personal and business level.
First, I am acutely aware that I am a minority in China. Most of the time this is either no big deal or a bit of a help. Maybe I stand out as a target, but I also get some special treatment because of my different looks (and presumed higher economic status). This means that most Chinese are fantastic hosts and overly polite. It also means that my prices are higher than local would be charged for almost everything in China that is not scanned at a register—and yes, I was here when they still had official “foreign” pricing so I know its relatively better but the attitude is still pervasive. My family (Chinese in-laws) joke all the time that they should never send me to buy anything in China as it will cost more.
Secondly, recently, being a foreigner has been, to be honest, at bit scary. Crime against foreigners is high. Anti foreign sentiment is rising fast. Now in China I’m not even a “normal” person (of course not special), now I’m “bad” and I’m “them” and sometimes I even get called “French.” Yuck. Why is this scary? The crime isn’t much worse than a year ago. The race riots are, unfortunately, now becoming almost annual. So why scary now? Because the government may not be able to or willing to control it as the hype for the 0lympics draws near—how do you shut down nationalism in the next 100 days as the 8 year hype of the 0lympics finally crescendos? And instead of shutting it down (and some chats are closed, I realize) they are instead telling Chinese to just not talk with or share “sensitive” information with foreigners—yes, the new official line is to “exclude” anyone that is not Chinese from conversations about real issues. Or just don’t giv them visa’s any more. Welcome (some of you) to China, please shut up, spend your money and then go home as quickly as possible. Nice.
Drawing a line in the sand and saying that “all foreigners are untrustworthy” is a scary position for a government to take—especially when that government has for 50 years also promoted the idea of Chinese racial/national superiority. (At least the US government abuses everyone, citizens and non, equally in our post 9/11 fear of foreigners.) If you don’t think that this is a big deal, look at the crowds supporting the torch relay in Australia, New Zealand or South Korea—do you see anyone supporting the torch that is not Chinese? NONE. And, despite the fact that “all Chinese and right thinking people around the world” condemn the violent nature of some of the protest in England, France and the US what are the Chinese supporters doing in New Zealand and South Korea? Violently pushing out opposition. Yup, China, you’ve arrived. Glad to see you meeting the Lowest Common Denominator for world “communication” standards.
The 0lympics might turn out to be One world, One race if things keep up. What happens when China loses to the US in basketball in round one? Or when they lose to the French in Cycling? Or to the Koreans in football? What happens if a Chinese athlete of T!ibetian decent wins a medal for China—can they cheer for him/her? How about when the Hong Kong team wins medals? How do they support that?
Third, this week I was thrust into the reality of the Chinese State’s “real” attitude toward individuals. As I’ve mentioned before, our apartment complex is trying to fight the building of an exhaust fan for a new subway line in the middle of our garden. The government and subway company are totally unwilling to even talk. Yesterday the subway company, in a meeting with some landlords in the Shenzhen city government offices said to us: “We don’t care if you all die from the pollutions (exhaust). We have to build the fan. You can protest if you want but if you do we’ll put you in jail just like we did to the other protesters last year.” They are telling this to foreign landlords! I’m not making this up—how does this equate with China being a responsible world power?! It doesn’t it. The news is all just so much garbage until it hits you personally in the face. I consider myself slapped.
I shared with is a long-time China hand and lawyer friend of mine here in China and he said: “as I tell people who only see the soft side of China, do not be fooled. This is an authoritarian state. It will get less authoritarian only when the citizens insist on something different. It has nothing to do with being a world power and it has nothing to do with us foreign guests.”
Yup. That’s scary stuff.
Finally, last I was working with a factory in Xiamen. Great facility, great equipment lousy service. They are busy, they are profitable, they don’t need new clients. They told me straight out, over lunch, they don’t want me to come do QC. They are professional and export to the US and if their own internal QC isn’t good enough for me then they don’t need my business. I told them that if their product was a good as their talk we wouldn’t have any problems. Of course, it wasn’t. They repeatedly said to me, when I brought up actually quality issues, things like “this is good enough for our other US clients,” and “this is so small, your client will never see it.” They couldn’t get the registration right on the printing and they were both frustrated and embarrassed that I called them on it.
I have to say that this was, by far the worst treatment that I have ever had by a factory. I’ve never been talked to like this before. Had we not already signed a contract and paid the deposit for this order I would have walked out and flown home.
The reality is two fold, the factory is so busy and foreign client standards are so low (really, no one is rejecting this stuff, so it’s acceptable) that suppliers don’t have to provide any quality service or even quality product. They are so busy that “cha bu duo” (good enough) is good enough and since it’s at a reasonable price and on time, clients are fine with that. Conversely without any check on quality the reputation of both the factory and my company that uses them will eventually suffer. Call is quality fade, call it arrogance, call it ignorance of standards. It’s cooperation with Chinese characteristics—you pay full price and don’t complain and we’ll do a so-so job and claim “difficulties” because we’re a developing country or that your standards are just too high.
Whatever you call it, it’s tough to get quality when you are in an environment where you are both socially a pariah and professionally unwanted. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m here in China because there are opportunities and for the most part, it’s been a very good place to be for the last decade. Further, I don’t agree with violent protests against China but I do not agree with violent suppression of contradictory opinions either.
But I still believe, as I’ve said before, if you don’t think that events unfolding now will affect your business in China, then you are not fully aware of who you’re working with in China.
Tags: Business, Culture, Politics by David Dayton
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