Chapter 7 - Olympic Singing-scandal!

This story, you all know. The little girl we all thought was soooo adorable wasn't really the owner of the voice you heard. However, what most of you, at least my Norwegian readers, probably don't know is the actual events of how it actually ended up being two little girls, or the fact that in reality, there were three little girls.

The reason why is Norwegian newspapers. They pretty much paints a degrading picture of an inhumane Chinese nation of 1,3 billion people who in coopertaion had the nerve to crush the little girl's heart in front of millions of viewers at home. Good storyline, right? This is a small story with a sad twist that was supposed to be picked up by all the big-hearted female bloggers (and that, has happended), in addition it is picked up by Norwegian media as their biggest story so far during the olympics! So, while World War 3 could be starting in South Ossetia they devote most of their collum space to this, even the King has gotten into the deal! Any other nation's newspapers and televison news have moved on, but the Norwegian ones keeps digging up new experts and royals wanting to express their views.

First of all, this is indeed not a Chinese phenomenon. Hollywood and the west has started the trend years ago, so don't blame the Chinese and present them as the inventors of "looks matters". They have simply adopted the views that we so dearly hold in the west. Shows like "Nip and Tuck", "The bachelor" and "extreme makeover" comes to mind. Secondly, the decision was made by one(!) person, and as I have earlier argued, rank matters in China. So if one guy important enough says something, that is the truth.

Thirdly, if you are going to present a story, do it right: 1. The girl who "sang" was a stand-in for another girl that looked too old (she was 10). 2. The girl who actually sang was a stand-in for the voice of the girl who "sang". That is, it was not the singing girl who was supposed to sing, it was the "singing" girl. Therefore, the victim is not the singing girl, but the "singing" girl who did not have a nice enough voice to get on TV. Get it? But the "signing" girl was too cute to be an international victim, so they went with the less pretty girl because she whould cause more sympathy. Insensitive journalistic bastards I tell you!

Lastly, do not present it like China as a nation approve of the switch. Every Chinese I have asked about it has expressed just as much frustration as I. And it was Chinese media that first reported the whole thing, so do not present it like the whole western world has a heart, and China doesn't. To read well-written reports on the story go to foreign web-sites, like the NY times or the Washington Post. They do not write as much about it as Norwegian papers do though...I wonder why...?

Don't get me wrong. I do not think it's an okay way to treat little girls, but it is NOT first page material!

As to the explanation why the Chinese have a need to present the perfect Olympics, stay tuned, another blog post will undertake this matter:)

Chapter 6.2 - The rule of protocol

This is an addition to chapter 6, brought into excistence by a comment on chapter 6.1, and because I had some additional thoughts, of course. So there you go, comments really might bring results, hint hint...

As Ella so nicely pointed out in her comment, China has in its history a regime with a certain political philosophy in which the rules of protocol have been extremely harshly executed. This certain type of philosophy has many similarities to the philosophies of regimes we know from today's Belarus and yesterday's Russia; the Soviet Union. Since they all have this common denominator, could this mean that this philosophy is the source of the topic of chapter 6.1? That is, the rigidity of the excecution of rules and traditions.

First, an introduction. Belarus is a beautiful country in the centre of Europe currently in the political shape of a presidential republic, basically meaning excactly what is sounds like; a republic governed by a president; "Soppen på toppen". The ruling power has imposed a rigid set of rules and regulations which makes pretty much anything a bureacratic nightmare. Courts seem to have little real power, organizations have to register to be able to run legally and people cannot gather in larger groups anywhere unless it is approved by the K (blank) G (blank) B. A bit of innocent critizism there, please bear with me...however, whatever one might feel about the form of government, or its legitimacy, the issue under discussion is another matter.

The Soviet leaders all instituted strict rules and regulations as to what was condoned behaviour and beliefs. However, as I understand it, the main goal of these were to underline the supreme power of the state above the individual and to ensure the continuation of dictatorial power. The same might be said about the goal of the rules of conduct in Belarus. One might say that the rule of law is weak since the law at any time might be changed as to suit the purpose of the ruling regime. But what does this control from the government tell us about the rule of protocol? Next to nothing, because the two are completely different acpects.

I believe there might have been some confusion in 6.1 as to how my own concept of "the rule of protocol" on the one hand, and the rule of law on the other, differ from each other. Therefore, I have added definitions on both posts to clarify. In general, the rule of law is fixed and absolute while the rule of protocol is an attemt to describe more unofficial rules of conduct that is practiced by officials or the public in general. Now that the background is established and the conscepts are clarified the main issue might be attended to.

China is socialst republic with an economic system of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. The footprints of Communism is engraving and the system is still headed by one party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, the nation as a whole has changed enormously, as I have argued in an earlier post it might be considered more of a capitalist country than anywhere else in some aspects. The aspects of the rule of protocol and the rule of law though, seem to have survived the changes.

The rule of law in China is, as I wrote in 6.1, dominated by corruption. This however, is combatted by the government. The signing of laws that establish stricter rules for economic conduct and "economic purity" for officials contribute to lower the rate of corruption. In addition comes stricter punishments, even the death penalty for economic crimes like embezzlement and alike. This does not change the fact though, that China has a weak rule of law, at best. The reason being that there is an established rule of protocol that high positioned people and their friends and family gets benefits that others don't. Thereby, a rule of protocol deminishes the rule of law.

Under the early years of the People's Republic of China(PRC) the high officials tempted by corruption were people within the CCP. Later it has become anyone from party officials and elected officials, to businessmen with high contacts. The combination of officials with absolute political control and a free market economy actually lead to even more corruption since power was easily bought by paying off only a few people. Now, is this a result of Communism? No, it is firstly a result from a long history of officials with much power on few hands and secondly a result from market forces putting a price on official decisions.

What about "the rule of protocol"? Rigid rules of bureaucratic procedures and social ideas of proper conduct combine to form this concept. The Chinese bureacratic tradtion comes from the fact that the Chinese dynasties have to a great extent been built by using an extensive bureaucratic system with an educated elite whose task was to enforce and keep the power of the central government out into the very edges of the empire. Bureaucracy have therefore proved to be the best way of maintaining power. One of the most important pillars of the Chinese system of government have therefore become a system of rank, in which the person with the most education (now: contacts and lineage) outranks the next.

The social ideas of proper conduct derives from Confucianism, the dominant life-philosophy throughout Chinese history. Here, respect for traditions and ancestors is above all else. Any person not conducting his or her life according to what is morally correct according to tradition and the ancient texts of Confucius and others, is viewed as weak or bad person. Combining this respect for tradition on the one hand, and the bureaucratic tradition on the other, forms the Chinese enormous respect for established rules of conduct and rank. Lastly, it should be mentioned that "saving face", which I also have written about in an earlier post, contributes to this respect.

PS. My definitions:
The rule of protocol - Established rules and/or traditions as to what is correct or accepted behaviour. That is, smaller issues and daily life questions.
The rule of law - That all decicions are made according to laws, not subjective opninions. That is, firmly established laws that the population and government both must live by.

Note

As my blog mostly will revolve around social concepts, political ideas and other themes of interest, I will seldom write in length about typical tourist stuff that I do, as I have a limited amount of time to spend on other things than studies. Therefore I encourage you to read the blogs of my classmates Gøril, Marie and Fredrik to see more pictures and also detailed descriptions of the places we go and alike. I'm sorry to say that they are in Norwegian, but the pictures are international.

On their pages you'll be able to read about our trip to Huangshan, The Nanjing massacre museum , the Ming Temple in Nanjing and the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum. All beautiful places that I recommend to visit. Huangshan(Yellow Mountain) in particular, that place is haven on earth!

PS. I hope you all have discovered the picture slidshow on the bottom of my blog. By clicking on the slides you'll be able to get to my flickr pages where you will find all my pictures.

Chapter 6.1 - The rule of protocol

After classes every morning I usually get online to get updated on news and hearsay aka. facebook. This afternoon I decided to go through the trash papers in Norway and came upon an article in "Verdens Gang"(VG), in English; "The events of the world"(the name seems almost ironic if you know what kind of stories they print).

First, a few frustrations. I must say, I find it disturbing that a country like Norway, that deems itself to be the peace-nation of the world, a nation of communication before reckless action, only has two major newspapers, and both of them can be compared to "the Sun" in Britain. What does that tell us about the environment and setting for political debate? Contrary to my feelings though, I still frequent the web-pages of the said newspapers for some annoying reason I have yet to pin down. Consequently, this post will, really against my own priciples, be a commentary on the formerly mentioned story in the formerly mentioned trash paper called VG. Ah, what one does not do for one's audience...

For my English readers, the story describes a Norwegian beach-volleyball team that was on their way home from practice when their bus-driver drove the wrong way home. Thereby approaching "the olympic village" from the wrong direction. As a consequence the police barred the athletes from exiting the bus for a few hours. The people inside was of course really frustrated since they were hungry and wanted to get home.


This story illustrates quite well an issue that one will meet no matter were you go, or what you do in China; "the rule of protocol". At the latest census in 2005 China had a population of about 1,3 billion. When a country is this large, governing bodies, the police and other bodies of authority will unavoidably need to establish rules and regulations as to how people are to behave, or not behave in public areas. This however, is no different than what one might find in Norway or any other western country. The difference in China however, lies in the willingness to be lenient when applying both the rule of law and the rule of protocol.

On the one hand, China has one of the world's worst records of corruption. The idea that if you know a politician, or have one in you family, you are secured privileges and extra cash is an established part of Chinese society that goes way back into the dynastic periods. Arguably even as far back as the beginning of the civil examination system during the Han Dynasty 200 BC. (This dynasty is also were the name Han-Chinese derive from. Most Chinese you have ever met are likely to have been Han since most emigrants from China are from the Guandong region which is predominantly Han-Chinese.)

On the other hand, when a system of protocol and conduct is established you can bet that it will be followed, down to every detail. In daily life I have allready experienced some examples: We came to a restaurant, and there was almost nobody else there so we sat down at a table for 8, even though we were only 6 people. We had to move though, because we had to(!) sit beside the air-conditioning. That was our privelege as the first guest arriving there that day:) Another is, if you forget your card at an ATM and it swollows the card, you have to(!) wait four days, and then go to a bank another place in town to pick up you card. A third is how when you shop you have to get a note from one place, pay it at another and come back to the first to pick up your stuff. What the different examples have in common is that they are reactions on the high number of people involved. Since there are so many, a system/traditions/rules of conduct is set in place in order to ensure a secure chain of events. In other words, perfectly normal and logical.

Now, with regard to the article in VG specifically. Beijing is currently hosting the Olympics, of course it will involve a strict rule of conduct and protocol. The Chinese people have heard nothing but sour commentaries from the western world before the Olympics. The police is on extremely high alert to avoid terrorism. Any person not behaving according to protocol, the rules of conduct for the massive number of people in the city, will unavoidably be carefully checked. And in order to give exceptions to these rules, a superior officer is needed, after all the police are not barbarians!

So, here comes my point, protocol and rules of conduct and the rule of rank is there for a reason; security. The fact that the Chinese people seem more taken with the rule of protocol than the rule of law, however interesting and facinating it may be, is another matter.

PS. My definitions:
The rule of protocol - Established rules and/or traditions as to what is correct or accepted behaviour. That is, smaller issues and daily life questions.
The rule of law - That all decicions are made according to laws, not subjective opninions. That is, firmly established laws that the population and government both must live by.

Chapter 5 - Consumer spending in China, aka. Shopping

Dear readers, in spite of its "geeky" first appearances, I hope this post will be of interest to all my readers. After all it is about shopping. So I guess that at least covers the female readers, and since I will be mentioning numbers and news, that should cover the guys as well. (Chauvinist?!? Me??)

Anyways, after having spent a few weeks in China I have gotten many revelations. One is the purely amazing number of Chinese people that excist in this world. Another is the just as amazing amount of shopping centers in the cities that I have been in so far, not to mention the size of each one of them. In Shanghai we went to an enormous shopping center downtown. It was completely stuffed with people, as the Chinese say; 人山人海, meaning, people mountain people sea. And this was just one out of many throughout the whole city. Later, in Nanjing I spent my first few days shopping for light clothes to wear in the summer heat. So I went to all kinds of stores, big and small.

First of all, to clear any confucion or predjudice, all of the shoppers are Chinese. The centers are not designed for foreigners or anything of the sort. They are designed to fit the needs of the Chinese modern-day consumer. The first floor of any shopping center sells jewlery, perfume, and in the cheaper places, shoes. The second and third are the ladies' floor, the fourth, men's and the fifth, sports and youth and the sixth, for home furnishing. This pattern repeats itself, at least throughout Nanjing.

It also seems as though the centers are devided by class. The fanciest is probably your best bet for having some alone-time in China. They have expensive brand-names and seem only to be frequented by the newly- and would-be-rich. In spite of the lack of costumers here, they are perhaps the largest ones in size. How they ever manage to keep afloat I have no idea. Underneath these though, we find the bulk of the shopping centers. But these are also devided into two kinds, one with cheap brand names, and one with cheap Chinese brands. If this means that the only genuine articles can been found at the most expensive malls I don't know. The last "class" of malls are the really cheap places outside of downtown. It's kinda hard to find nice stuff there though. This included giant places solely comprised of stores of the kind you would find in an outdoor street-market in Europe. Beside this whole scale is the smaller stores that can be found along all streets in China. These vary in prices, quality and sizes. Shopping here is like digging for gold...really tiring!

In addition to these places comes the electronic centers, Wal-Mart, and other Chinese versions of various American retail-stores. The electronic centers btw. are cool, it's like 5-6 stories of all kinds of electronics. Very nice:)


Now, the bigger picture.

I have lived in the US, I am from Norway. Never before have I seen a society that have more buying-preassure than here. I don't mean that the whole society is commercialized to the same rate as the American society. It is however, filled with the need to be better than the Jones' that is found in the US. The need to have better, fancier and cooler stuff than your friends and neighbours, have creapt into Chinese society. The fact that you have about 20 people "helping" you to find what you like in each store, really doesn't help on the preassure to buy stuff. Don't take me wrong, I don't mind this developement, I just hope it doesn't turn cultural China into cultural America...

One thing it can do however, is to turn economic China into what the US have been throughout the 20th century; the world's economic engine. The driving force of the US domination of the global economy have been the American consumer. Now, he/she is failing, American consumption is down and the Chinese have achieved a higher standard of living. Thereby, more and more Chinese products are now sold IN China, thereby fueling its own economy, and no longer being dependant on foreign investments. This development might lead China further down the path for the candidacy as the global economy's leading nation.

As you can read in the Business Spectator the Chinese ratail sales are continuosly growing, fueling the economy. Even in spite of the earthquake in May 2008. This fact, and the fact that it has been steadily growing the last few years shows that the Chinese consumer means business. Watch out! ;)