Previously in my update from Yangshou China, I mentioned my conversations with the Chinese students sent to practice their english skills.  I am now way passed due in fullfulling my promise to elaborate on my conversations with them. 

At the time I didn't feel it was in my best interest to elaborate on my controversial conversations with Chinese locals using email within China.  You never know what keywords their goverment uses to tag emails to be reviewed, but I'd bet Tibet and Tienanman Square would top the list.  Anyways, on one occasion I spoke with 3 university girls who had come to Yangshuo to practice their English.  Usually these conversations are quite tedious and cover topics like your age, family, home town, favorite movie star, and what do you think of China.  In this one conversation the girls spoke of their limited freedom of speech.  Now in China it is usually not considered taboo to have a private conversation about most any topic, but things get more sketchy when the talk involves a group.  The girls mentioned that their teachers will often tell them before hand not to speak or ask questions of certain topics before a foreign speaker comes to give a lecture.  Even so, I think most people would be surprised to find the topics that foreign speakers come and speak out about.  Over the course of our conversation I mentioned Tienanman Square.  The girls knew of the event but were quite unaware of the violence that occured and even skeptical of hearing that such a thing happened.  Of course, we have all seen the terrible scene involving the student standing down in front of a Chinese Tank that did not take heed of the protesting student.  The girls have never seen such footage and when I mentioned it to them, they considered that it may not be real footage and were surprised when I told them that most of the world has seen this footage and understands the situation to have been cruel and violent to the protesting students.  Eventually, they became concerned and troubled to hear that that may be the case. 

We later spoke about Tibet and I was curious to know what they knew of Tibet and how they viewed it.  Their solid response was that Tibet became a part of China peacefully and that Tibet needed the money and support that China was giving them (Of course, I read this same view in the paper that week).  They could not understand why the people of Tibet would oppose Chinese rule, they felt the Dali Lama was an outcast, and were unaware of the real facts of the case.  The news within China with regard to Tibet is most often how China is improving life in Tibet; It is quite true that China has brought much infrastructure, better education, and healthcare to the people of Tibet.  But the bad side of events is completely left out.  It was very interesting when I mentioned that Brad Pitt had made a movie called "Seven Years in Tibet" and that they would never be able to see this movie.  They knew exactly who Brad Pitt was and immediately wrote down the name of the movie and decided to find out more on the internet later. 

The last incite I received in our conversation regarding the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.  I asked them if they felt it was done on purpose or could have been an accident.  They all felt strongly that the US deliberately made the bombing.  When I asked why, they said because the USA has such advanced technology and weapons that this kind of mistake could never happen.  When I mentioned that it could have been a personal error in pointing out the target eventually they began to consider it may have been a mistake, but we all agreed that it was impossible for us to know and maybe it was done purposefully for reasons we cannot find out.  Before my mention that it could have been a human error, I am of the impression that they never considered this a possibility.

Most of the responses I received from the girls was typical or at least predictable, but I was interested in why they felt the way they did.  I always was struck by how the Chinese will often make strong decisions about certain topics and will settle for no other answer.  If you asked most Chinese before they received the Olympics how they would feel if they did not get the Olympics, their response would most likely be, "We MUST get the Olympics".  Even these girls who did know the goverment limited their freedoms and the press told lies were susceptable to the propaganda.  Of couse, we are also susceptable to our own propaganda at home and often take freedom of press for granted.  The internet and the higher education in China is slowly changing things though and these girls were examples of that.  They knew that they could go to the internet to find any further information about what we talked about or anything they wanted to find more on.  It is surprising to find what some foreign speakers are allowed to come and talk about; I seem to recall an article I read about a speaker in Beijing talking specifically about freedom of press at a university.  At the same time, many people are afraid to say what they feel and may be so deeply affected by the past that they don't directly realize that they are.  It seems that sometimes aggression may be directed at 3rd parties which the public is able to criticize (ie. the US bombings, spy plane, etc...).

I really appreciated all the opportunities I was given to speak with the local people in China.  Before I visited I knew so little about this huge country and what I did know was tainted by American generalizations from the past.  Things are changing in China and I have been impressed by how the Chinese have used the example of Russia to temper their zest to change things quickly.  With 2 billion people to feed and the risk of political/social backlash if some things are changed too quickly or cause dramatic change, they seem to be doing okay. 

There was an American bumper sticker stuck to the front window of the cafe in which I had these conversations.  It read "I love my country, but I'm terrified of the government!"  Before I visited China I would not have expected to see such a sign in public.  I think it was a sign how things are changing.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed my little reflection on China.  I am now resting in Sydney Australia.  I flew in the other day from Singapore and since have caught a bit of a head cold due to the long travel hours and climate change.  It's cool and rainy here this week.  Let's hope things change quickly.

Cheers,

Chris