"Certainly Not Neutral": Chinese Americans protest against Cafferty remarks

I was engaged in my habitual reading of Hollywood Reporter (yes, I am a film nerd) when I stumbled upon this interesting article regarding the protest of 500 hundred of ethnic Chinese in California against political commentator Jack Cafferty's on-air comment of Chinese being "goons and thugs" and products manufactured in China as being "junk." I was inspired by the article to write an entry since it is the first article I read which touches upon the position of Chinese Americans within the dual context of Western media's often unforgiving critical reporting on China and the Chinese government's undeniable repressive potential. Being a Chinese American myself, I am often put in an uncomfortable situation of having to agree with my peers regarding improvements that China as a nation is in dire need of ( for example, the extension of freedom of speech and increased accountability in law), while concurrently assuming a defensive stance against their complete rejection of the Chinese 'ways.'

With regards to the latter, the 'perceived threat' (which I attempt to defend against) arises from the moral judgement of some of my peers' argument, where (in my eyes) they view the Chinese state as consciously assuming a wrong position that should be corrected; it is this normative aspect (of offering a quick objective prescription) that I feel strongly against. For me, a better approach would be to first break down the specific components that China lacks and to discuss the reasons behind the government's decision to act as it is (and consequently to discuss the potential unintended consequences of a different course of action). I may be overassessing this situation, but I have to admit that I am not an unbiased participant.

I am a Chinese American. Although I fully believe in the freedom of speech (and religion) and in the absolute standards of human rights, the 'China bashing' that has been occurring lately has made me insecure of my position in America--since I am too by ethnicity a Chinese. And though I believe in the capability of my fellow Americans to distinguish the Chinese state and the Chinese people (especially those who are naturalized citizens of other countries), my experience of living in the States has not given me full confidence. And I am not alone. The article below indeed describes the ambivalence of other Chinese Americans amidst recent 'China-bashing':

• "I know both worlds, English media and Chinese media. I believe there is an anti-China frenzy in America today," said Chen, 44, who has raised two preteens in the U.S.
  "I came not for myself but for my son and daughter. They will live forever in the U.S., and I cannot tolerate this discrimination from a major news organization," Chen said.


• At the protest Saturday, Ke Ping, a Chinese filmmaker who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years and is a graduate of the UCLA Film School, said that as a naturalized American citizen she certainly took advantage of freedom of speech here."I encourage more open speech in China," where she acknowledged such a protest against a news organization would not be allowed to take place.

I hope by reading this article (and my response to it), another layer of the ongoing contestation between the Western media and the Chinese state would be revealed. Indeed, for Chinese Americans, the situation remains an ambivalent one, but as Ke Ping alertly argues (and I too believe), it is only through active dialogue (combined with pragmatic awareness) that the situation would be properly addressed.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/international/news/e3i6b913c786b0131f919c5e7c3cb0d111e?imw=Y

Putting Olympic Mayhem into Perspective

As if to participate in the Chinese national hobby of trotting out ancient historical anecdotes whenever possible, an Op-Ed piece in today's NY Times reminds us that protests and even violent chaos have been central to the Olympics tradition from its very beginning: "When it comes to Olympic protests, the demonstrators in London, Paris and San Francisco are a pretty wimpy bunch, at least compared to the ancient Greeks. Back in the classical era, protesters really knew how to disrupt an Olympics ceremony."

Politics and wimpy protesters notwithstanding, I for one still have high hopes that the Beijing Games will stack up to ancient standards of unruliness. Those of us who have experienced the Hobbesian struggle of boarding and exiting a Beijing subway car during an ordinary rush hour know the intensity entailed in any local competition for spots "in line" or the difficulty of securing yourself a modest amount of breathing room in a crowded space. Although Olympic events will be ticketed and subject to actual maximum capacity rules, one still has to anticipate being dazzled by the mayhem bound to ensue in getting 90,000 people seated at the Bird's Nest and getting scores of thousands more transported to and situated at all the other venues around town. Whew, it's going to be a wild ride, folks!

Yellow Peril Redux?

In the late 19th century, the term "yellow peril" was coined as a wave of Chinese international migration fanned the flames of Western xenophobia. At a time when the cutting edge "science of race" put forth the notion that white, yellow, red and black-skinned humans occupied separate rungs in the hierarchy of homo sapiens, Chinese migrants in the West were regarded not only as biologically inferior to whites, but also as a force so threatening that it might even be capable of destroying all of Christendom and the whole of Western civilization. (Throughout the 20th century, the term was recycled several times, most notably as a result of Japan's military conflicts with Russia and later the Allied Forces during WWII.)

From our current historical vantage point, the fervor behind these racist sentiments seems hysterical and melodramatic. Yet at least one Western media outlet is questioning whether today's relentlessly critical reporting on China (related to T*bet, Darfur, the Olympics, the environment, human rights, toxic exports-- you name it) might not constitute a sort of yellow peril redux. In Spiked Online's "Beijing 2008: Challenging China Bashing" section, several writers make the point that Western media tend to portray China as the West's eternal (evil) Other. Tim Black writes, "Everything related to the [Olympic] games... has now become an opportunity for moral grandstanding, an opportunity to portray China as everything we in the West are not." That is, lacking religious freedom, lacking proper environmental regulations, lacking human rights and so forth. (For a more extended analysis of this tendency, check out this excellent post on The China Beat.) One clever headline reads: "The Chinese: From Yellow Peril to Green Peril?"

I think there are other sites that are a bit more thoughtful than CCB (like many of the blogs I've linked in the left sidebar), but its broader point is worthy of consideration. Agree or disagree, I'd recommend a quick visit.

(H/t Danwei.)