• Happy Learn From Lei Feng Day!
• Meet Mr. Lù – a “living Léi Fēng”

I’m not kidding; that’s exactly what these signs say:

Currently in the Chinese media, and now all over the English China blog world, is the news that China is considering passing a law that would make it illegal to eat dogs and cats. But even if it passes, I have my doubts that those hypocritical pork-eating bourgeois specie-ists will succeed in enforcing their shameless attack on cultural practices that go back thousands of years.

The image on the right is a bag of dog meat one of our Chinese teachers gave us as a gift.

Anyway, I just couldn’t pass up sharing a photo of a sign that says “Cats are friends, not food!” （猫是朋友，不是食物）。 Also visible in the photo:

• “Refuse to eat cats.” （拒绝吃猫）
• “Please show humanitarianism, set them free.” （请发扬人道主义 放过它们）
• “Cherish humanity’s good friends! Refuse to eat cat and dog meat.” （爱护人类好友！拒绝吃猫狗肉）
• “Refuse to eat cat and dog meat. Cherish humanity’s friends.” (拒食猫狗肉 爱护人类之友)
• 请口下留情 is a play on the phrase 手下留情 (“restrain your hand”), as in showing mercy or sparing someone’s feelings by not meting out more punishment than is needed, often in the context of criticizing. On the sign they switched “hand” (手) for “mouth” （口）, so it might mean something like, “Be merciful; please restrain your mouth”.

For our personal encounters with cats and dogs as food in China, including a downloadable translated menu from a local dog meat restaurant, see here:

• Dead puppies (don’t look, Grandma!) – menu included
• Obligatory cat eating post
• 龙虎斗

This is a dog meat restaurant near our old apartment:

The last time we ate dog, at a Korean restaurant with one of our teachers and her Korean fiancé:

Honestly, it tasted better at the dump-of-a-restaurant two photos up, but it wasn’t great at either place. Not like some of the donkey I’ve had.

… what would it sound like?
“VerdantMountains Cannot Stop Water Flowing; Eastward the River Keeps on Going”

…the sincerity, confidence, resolve and effective efforts Premier Wen brought to Copenhagen, which fully demonstrated China’s image as a responsible big country dedicated to development and cooperation.
[...]
History will remember the important contribution of the Chinese government to the success of the Copenhagen conference.

Now, imagine that all day, every day, everywhere that anything important is mentioned. And that’s just the intro…

In Canada the Province of British Columbia gave us a free CD with a hippie/new-age reading of a poem for infants about how “YOU. Are a chiiiiild of the UUUNiverse…”. In Tianjin our friends who had their baby here got this free bib with a One Child Policy slogan on it:

“Fewer births, scientific and healthier births, lifelong happiness”
or
“Fewer and better births make your life happier”
or
“Few births, scientifically bearing children, happiness for whole life”
少生优生，幸福一生
shǎo shēng yōushēng, xìngfú yìshēng

Other One Child Policy stuff:

• “There are too many Chinese!” (translations of One Child Policy signs in a Tianjin village).

Some other Vancouver stuff:

• China takes over world, starts with 2010 Olympic mascots, exacerbates Canadian identity crisis
• Chinese tattoos in Vancouver
• Aiya, Wen-ge-hua… 哎呀，温哥华……
• A “foreigner” in my own country, “yellow” people, and other funny Chinese racial talk
• How to: Confuse the traffic in your hometown

As soon as I learned how to survive in Tianjin traffic, which necessarily involves blatantly ignoring traffic laws, the traffic culture started changing. More than once during this second stint in China I’ve found myself the lone bike rider stopped in the middle of the intersection while the horde of cyclists obediently wait behind the stop line. That never would have happened in 2007. At first I wondered if it was just me, but after asking around local friends confirmed that, yes indeed, people are increasingly respecting traffic laws, and traffic laws are being more strictly and consistently enforced.

Then this morning I saw this banner near our neighbourhood when I went for my routine Friday morning Tianjin breakfast:

“Strengthening publicity & education regarding the legal system,
serving socio-economic development
Wanxing St. Judiciary Booth/Office Dec 4 Popularize & Publicize Knowledge of Laws Day”
加强法制宣传教育，服务社会经济发展
万兴街司法所 “12.4” 普法宣传日
jiā​qiáng​ fǎ​zhì​ xuān​chuán​ jiào​yù​, fú​wù​ shè​huì​ jīng​jì​ fā​zhǎn​
Wàn​xìng​ jiē​ sī​fǎ​ suǒ​ “shí èr sì” pǔ​fǎ​ xuān​chuán rì​​

There’s a local campaign on to educate regular folks about the laws, to make them realize that, yes, laws do in fact matter; enforcement isn’t going to be totally arbitrary anymore (they may not be that explicit on the second point ;) ). So today there’s either a temporary booth set up or an office is open for people to inquire about various laws. Time will tell whether this is all just for show (as per usual) or whether this will make real changes to society (as the changing traffic culture would suggest).

Tangentially related stuff:

• Staying Alive and On Your Bike in Tianjin
• How to: Ride a bike in Tianjin (Part 1)
• Today’s commute by the numbers

Went back recently to Tianjin’s old Nanshi hutongs to see what (if anything) was left, and found some slogans. A few months before the 2008 Olympics everyone was moved out and the partially demolished city blocks wrapped in high, long walls of billboards. The walls are still there, but inside it’s mostly flat and barren.

“Establish a sanitary city district, construct a beautiful homeland”
创建卫生城区 建设美好家园
chuàng​jiàn​ wèi​shēng​ chéng​qū​, jiàn​shè​ měi​hǎo​ jiā​yuán​

“A safe community is everyone’s duty, everyone participates in a safe community”
社区平安 人人有责，社区平安 人人参与
shè​qū​ píng​’ān​ rén​rén​ yǒu ​zé​, shè​qū​ píng​’ān​ rén​rén​ cān​yù​

These buildings house a primary school. The 200-year-old traditional courtyard compound featured in the posts linked below was attached to the side (picture’s foreground). Other than a small handful of occupied lowrise apartment buildings and some squatter camps (scavenging building materials), this is all that’s left; the entire place is flat. Even most of the rubble is gone.

Nanshi hutong pre-demolition photos and stories:

• Magazine article: Reduced to Memories: Tianjin’s hutongs
• Photo Gallery: Tianjin’s 南市 hutongs
• Photo-blog: Tianjin’s forsaken places – two months before demolition
• Photo-blog: Tianjin’s forsaken places – Part II
• Photo-blog: Tianjin’s forsaken places – Part III

“That is SOOO so so so FAKE!” exclaims my 16-year-old English student from Beijing this morning when I show her the iconic China photo on the front page of today’s Vancouver Sun. She isn’t angry but she’s keyed up, the strength of her feelings quickly exceeding that of her English vocabulary. After insisting that the man never actually got run over and that he voluntarily put himself in harms way, she changes targets, “…was one of the student leader, and she SOOO so so so SO SUCKS!” I know which particular student leader she’s referring to and I’ve heard this character assassination before. So apparently she’s heard something about the event. This is one of the ESL students to whom I gave some Google and YouTube homework about this particular event a month ago.

Before I showed her the paper, I asked her, “Did you know that today is special? The whole world is thinking about China. All the major newspapers have stories about China. Do you know why?” She didn’t. Her guess: swine flu.

Today’s Vancouver Sun, which I’d nabbed from the staff room before my morning one-on-one tutoring session, carried two decent articles and some photos to mark this historic day. I was curious about how much or how little my student knew about the event, plus I wanted her to see some decent representative examples of how Canadians think and write about China.

I didn’t argue or push it with her, as I didn’t think that’d be appropriate. I guessed correctly that she’d be interested in how China is portrayed in the local papers and was curious about her reaction. After a bit we discussed another unrelated story illustrating interesting aspects of Canadian society and before calling it a day.

(P.S. – Comments are closed on this one. This topic is still officially taboo in China and I’m not here to be political, so I’m not gonna risk getting blocked over it.

P.P.S. – If you’re concerned that I was being unethical with this student, please see this clarification of what actually happened.)

Related Posts:

• Nothing to My Name / 一无所有

Conversational Landmine
I guess this is one of those things that most foreigners in China discover sooner or later, though I didn’t realize until recently that this is a sensitive nerve for a lot of Han Chinese (Han are the majority ethnic group in China at 92%). Apparently the idea that there could be racism in China is outright rejected by a lot of Chinese: “‘Racism’ is never in Chinese minds,” says one commenter from Hong Kong. “We don’t have racism issues.” Yet multiple glaring, text-book examples of racism instantly and effortlessly spring to the minds of foreigners who’ve spent significant time in China. They’ve experienced or witnessed it for themselves, and they can’t believe that anyone would seriously deny that it exists. The Mainlanders, however, are offended that a foreigner would even suggest it.

My point here is that foreigners and Chinese need to tread carefully if having cross-cultural conversations about “racism.” Culturally we approach racism differently, and this combined with Mainlanders’ sensitivity regarding how Westerners view China means the potential for miscommunication and/or offense is immense.

Overweight Baggage Fees
The average foreigner and the average Mainlander typically understand “racism” in very different ways. It’s a loaded subject inside and outside China; each of our respective societies and cultures still struggle with diversity. Obviously not everyone in China thinks the same, and as Westerners we have our own historical baggage that hinders our understanding and handling of race and diversity today. The same commenter I quoted above says that we (non-Chinese) are often guilty of “using foreign concept to understand Chinese” and she’s right. All of us, Chinese and non-Chinese, have inherited ‘issues’ from our cultures and histories, and we bring that with us to discussions about racism (even the people-categories I’m using in this post reflect this).

Specific Differences
I’ve only just recently accidentally stepped on this particular conversational landmine, so what follows are just my initial impressions. It seems that when Mainlanders hear the word “racism” they think first of institutional racism, like Nazis and segregation and apartheid. They get offended because to them it sounds like we’re accusing “China,” their state/race/civilization, of deliberate and extreme racist policies (that are usually associated with foreign nations). But North Americans often first think of individuals’ behaviours, like a manager’s subconscious hiring preferences or a person’s choice of friends, and individuals’ attitudes and thinking (personal biases, prejudices, and stereotyping). The North American can’t understand how the Mainlander could expect to be taken seriously when denying the obvious existence of racist attitudes and behaviours among many individuals in China, while the Mainlander is offended that the foreigner would lump their nation in with segregated South Africa and Nazi Germany. Neither side does a very good job of communicating to the other, even when trying to explain.

Online Discussion Drama
Here are a few recent links to articles and ‘conversations’ about race issues in China that demonstrate how muddled this topic can be:

• A “foreigner” in my own country, “yellow” people, and other funny Chinese racial talk (ChinaHopeLive)
• Understanding popular Chinese notions about “racism” (help me out here!) (Fool’s Mountain)
• How should foreigners feel about being called “鬼子,” “鬼佬,” “老外,” etc.? (Fool’s Mountain)
• Chinese Racism: Yes, It Exists, But Why Won’t They Admit It? (CNReviews)
• Young, gifted and black: China unveils Ding Hui, its new Olympic hope (Times Online)

I don’t suggest you actually read through all the comments, especially on the Fool’s Mountain links; it’s not worth your time. But a quick skim will at least give a taste of what some Chinese with good English have to say about it.

All these photos are from within the last couple weeks, some from yesterday. The translations are definitely suspect.

“Donkey meat take-out”
Trying to read signs pays off. I recently ‘discovered’ that there’s a donkey meat restaurant on my way to the gym. Donkey meat is good!

“Donkey meat take-out” / 外卖 驴肉 / wài mài lǘ ròu

“No making a ruckus”
From a nearby vegetable market:

“Civilly do business, compete fairly, it’s forbidden in the market to make a noisy ruckus”
文明经商，公平竟争， 市场禁止喧哗吵闹
wénmíng jīngshāng, gōngpíng jìng zhēng, shìchǎng jìnzhǐ xuānhuá chǎonào

Civilized bus riding
From a bus stop in Beijing:

“Please line up and wait for the bus, civilly swipe your card, orderly get off the bus”
请排队候车，文明刷卡，顺序下车
qǐng páiduì hòu chē, wénmíng shuā kǎ, shùnxù xià chē

“Orderly get on the bus, politely take your seat, respect the old and cherish the young, civilly ride the bus”
有序上车，礼貌上座，尊老爱幼，文明乘车
yǒu xù shàng chē, lǐmào shàng zuò, zūn lǎo ài yòu, wénmíng chéng chē

Nothing that special; I was just happy that I could actually read something! We were in Beijing seeing friends that we hadn’t visited for over a year. Last time we had to speak mostly in English and couldn’t read signs like this. This time we used 99.9% Chinese and could get around no problem.

“Harmonious Tianjin”
Post-Olympics Tianjin banners on the left (not the best translation):

“With this well-loved place, establish a happy homeland /
Harmonious Tianjin, Joyful New Year’s Day”
同在一方热土，共建美好家园 / 和谐天津，欢度元旦
tóngzài yī fāng rè tǔ, gòng jiàn měihǎo jiāyuán / héxié tiānjīn, huān dù yuándàn

On the right, one of the many surfaces on Tianjin University campus completely covered in ads for daily/hourly rental bedrooms. There’s a booming market in daily/hourly use rooms and “love hotels” near college campuses in China.

Curse you, Beijing signage!
They told us we’d need to learn characters in China, but they never mentioned night vision! Us and a bunch of other people looking for the Beijing South Train Station wandered around last night in sub-zero temperatures in the wind following conflicting signage and conflicting directions from random passerbyers until we backtracked and took a closer look at this particular sign, or more specifically, the home-made one beside it, which says the train station is the other way:

Nice that they scribbled out the arrow for us! (Construction has made the area a little chaotic, and the bus routes and stuff apparently haven’t been changed yet.)

The 2008 Tianjin Grinch Award goes to the bunch of self-interested professional butt-kissers (aka kiss-ups, brown-nosers, toadies, boot-lickers, 马屁精) for their eye-roll inducing paranoia, beyond-ridiculous intolerance, and gutlessly-executed last-minute squashing of totally innocuous Christmas activities joyfully performed (or in this case, not performed) by some of the most pitiable members of Chinese society.

I can’t provide details because this is Tianjin, and they-who-must-not-be-named, and the broken systems they perpetuate, are just that grinchy. Suffice to say that if they were trying to make a bad impression, encourage foreigners to “look down on China,” embarrass a bunch of locals in front of their foreign friends and co-workers and break a bunch of kids’ hearts, then they’re doing a fantastically effective good job.

(PS – I realize, of course, that giving foreigners a good impression is far, far down their personal priority lists. But anyway, now I feel better. ;) )

(PPS – The feelings expressed above don’t reflect our long-term, regular attitude toward these kinds of situations and the people who do them. But occasionally feeling this way is an unavoidable part of living here.)

(PPPS – Comments are closed on this post.)