If you’ve ever wondered why so many Mainlanders still love Mao, this quote explains it more or less the same as our friends and teachers in Tianjin do (except our friends in Tianjin are less negative toward Mao).

An American-born Chinese female general, born in 1930, who worked 40 years in military education:

I feel that the Liberation of China in 1949 really was a fantastic event. And I include Mao Zedong in that. Even though Chairman Mao did a lot of wrong, and even committed crimes — I do acknowledge that. But we have to recognize Mao Zedong’s contribution to the revival of the Chinese nation as a whole. He was actually a great historical figure and his name will go down in the annals of history. He’s like the Emperor Qin Shi Hung Di, who burned books, buried Confucian scholars alive and tyrannized the people, but this can’t obscure his achievements in uniting China, setting up the legal code, developing commerce, and even building the Great Wall, one of the wonders of the world. Mao Zedong gave the Chinese back their self-respect as a people after the Opium War, and that achievement can never be wiped out.

What does Liberation mean? The greatest liberation has been for the working people. Previously in China, workers and peasants had absolutely no status; now, they may still be poor, but it’s not the same. At least now, society and the media and officials have to show respect for them, whether they mean it or not, and they’re supposed to be the masters! Before Liberation, the expression “Chinese people” didn’t include them. The difference between then and now is really huge. That’s why I tell you we are the most fortunate generation, because we have seen with our own eyes the difference between before and after Liberation. We have seen the whole process — from war, starvation, poverty and unrest, to the imposition of order, our growing strength and the development of a humane society.

(Quoted from pg. 286 of China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation by Xinran, a collection of interesting personal interviews with members of China’s most fascinating generation.)

Related Posts:

• Chinese women & high heels
• Mainlanders and their past; Mainlanders and their selves — from China Witness by Xinran

Pronounced: xiǎo zīchǎnjiējí
Literally: little property (social) class
Means: [1] petty bourgeoisie (Mao-era China); [2] Mainlanders who frequent Starbucks (today’s China).

A young migrant worker from Hubei province blogs about the migrant urban experience from the perspective of the disrespected:

Many people don’t believe that I’m a migrant worker. A few people have even taken to calling me names. Someone said: “Don’t fear bullies and don’t fear landlords. Only fear an educated migrant worker 不怕地主和恶霸，就怕民工有文化.” As far as they know, migrant workers are supposed to be ignorant and easy to control . . . But we migrant workers shouldn’t be ashamed of ourselves. We should be proud of who we are.

• English translation of one of his blog posts: A Migrant Worker Strikes Back
• A Mainlander’s take (in English): Migrant Worker Blogger
• Wan Xiaodao’s blog

The legendary “No Dogs or Chinese” sign, which has served as propaganda fodder for generations and was even famously smashed to bits in a Bruce Lee movie, has possibly reincarnated in China.

Only this time instead of a possibly-mythological sign used by imperialistic foreigners to discriminate against Chinese, it’s a real-life sign at the entrance to a high end Chinese shopping mall that seems to say: “No Dogs or Peasants.”

Anyone for a little more class struggle?

EastSouthWestNorth translates an interesting piece by a Chinese blogger who criticizes some typical Mainland responses to routine Western criticisms of China, and struggles with coming to grips with the complexity and depth of China’s problems.

Pronounced: niào bù shī / niào bù
Literally: pee-not-wet / pee cloth
Means: diaper; the baby poo and pee management device favoured in the West but often considered unsanitary in China, where split pants are still the preferred method.

Mary Ann gives a fascinating snapshot of China’s development by explaining Shenzhen’s new official slogan “Plans Overtake Change” within its local and historical context: 计划赶超变化–a new era in Shenzhen development.

If you’ve ever wondered why or how China’s head honchos still cling to the fig leaf of official rhetoric despite the glaringly obvious reality of today’s new New China, you now have an official answer delivered in full-on CCP-speak: the 6 Why’s.

In Chinese: 解读“六个为什么”
In English: Because forsaking Marxism means toppling the Great Wall

China’s future population will include millions who grew up as the children of internally migrant workers, with massive disadvantages socially, economically, in education, and in basic, ‘normal’ family life. This article explores the current situation and future challenges:

If these Chinese migrants had their own country, it would be the fifth most populous in the entire world. In other words, one cannot accurately consider the future of China without recognizing that migrant workers, drawn from their villages throughout rural China by the promise of the East, will play a pivotal role in that future.

“Big rural village” indeed. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Tianjin: China’s #1 most livable city! I can’t believe it. Our very own Tianjin, which is so beautiful that you can look at the sun and it doesn’t hurt your eyes, took top honours among Mainland cities this month in a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

First place in China makes Tianjin 72nd in the world according to the Economist’s Liveability ranking, which

quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. Each city is assigned a score for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

So our Canadian home is the most livable city in the world, and our Chinese home is the most livable city in China. If anyone has more info, please pass it along. I’d love to know how Tianjin scored this.

Below is the intro I never used for the “Tianjin-friendly New Year’s Resolutions for Laowais” magazine article last December, followed by links to some of our best Tianjin stuff.

Yeah yeah, in Tianjin we know how in Beijing you look down us for being old school and undistinguished, and how in Shanghai you think you’re better than, well, everybody, but the intro below from an upcoming local expat magazine article explains why Tianjin kicks all your butts!

Tianjin Rocks!

If you disregard your first impressions and look at it from the proper angle, it’s not hard to see that Tianjin is a romantic city with some exciting nightlife. Stop sniggering; I’m serious: romantic, with exciting nightlife. I’ll also add – traffic and public transit aside – warmhearted. I’m glad it’s not Shanghai or Beijing, and I’ve got good reasons.

Tianjin is a big city with a small town feel. Beijingers might say it’s unsophisticated and really just a big rural village (大农村), but they don’t know what they’re missing. Tianjin’s the kind of city where your neighbourhood bike repairman and his buddies will call you over to sit on those little stools, share some báijiǔ (白酒；white lightning) and play Chinese chess, even though you can barely ask for the bathroom in Chinese. It’s the kind of city where, when you’re reading your Chinese homework on a bench in the park, someone will eventually come sit next to you and make polite conversation. It’s the kind of place where you open your door to find the new neighbours you haven’t met yet standing there with a plate full of steaming dumplings for you and your wife. Or it’s a place where a stranger might join your picnic lunch, where people sing out loud biking down the road, where your taxi driver will talk your ear off if you let him, where couples tango in public, and where the parks are bustling with happy activity from after dinner until late.

Language barriers and vast cultural distances won’t stop the local lǎobǎixìng (老百姓；regular folks) from giving a warm welcome to the foreigners in their midst. Foreigners are still a little special here, but we’re not so unusual that people can’t relate to us normally-enough. Sometimes the biggest problem is the foreigners themselves; we miss out on many of the best aspects of Tianjin because we inadvertently make ourselves unavailable by living lifestyles that are incompatible with the main streams of local Tianjin life.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that pretty much none of Tianjin’s foreigners want to completely abandon all of their foreigner ways and living habits. Thankfully, that’s not necessary. Even just partially adjusting to the rhythms of local life can yield some meaningful relationships and experiences. Making ourselves available to the more meaningful aspects of local Tianjin life will greatly increase our enjoyment of this city and its people, and New Year’s resolutions are as good an excuse as any to get after it.

Selected Tianjin fun:
(You can browse the Tianjin or Regular Zhou categories for more.)

• Getting fire cupped in a Tianjin bath house (or) Losing a wrestling match to a giant octopus
• Staying Alive and On Your Bike in Tianjin
• Tianjin: more colourful in the rain, more marriable in the sun
• This week in Tianjin (photos)
• Photos from a Saturday bike trip around Tianjin
• Watching the Opening Ceremony with a few thousand Tianjiners! (video)
• Tianjin’s “Old Hundred Names” on the Olympics (video)
• Reduced to Memories: Tianjin’s hutongs
• The Tianjin “Incident”
• A little taste of Chinese New Year in our neighbourhood
• January’s propaganda: museum style (Tianjin Museum)
• Sex, drugs, and Tianjin University students
• Putting the OMG! in Smog

Tianjin is a fine place to be a China-loving lǎowài. (Never mind that Business Week rated it the 13th hardest “hardship post” (2nd worst in China) for foreign workers on account of the pollution, disease & sanitation, medical facilities, physical remoteness, and culture & recreation. Sissies! You’re an embarrassment!)