Entries: Politics

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is located political center in Beijing right next to Tiananmen Square.  The construction of the palace complex began in 1407, Ming Dynasty.  It was completed fourteen years later in 1420.

Inside the Forbidden City, there is a small Starbucks. There is a controversy around this coffee shop. Some people would argue that Starbucks should not be inside the Forbidden City because it doesn’t belong in such a cultural and historical place. Others say that it is small and it is not even noticeable.

So here is where you come in, please comment on this blog and tell us what you think about this controversy.

We’ll post the results later.

long journey

I looked around the bookstore. I noticed “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx on the shelf written in Chinese.

“He is here,” Zhou said.

I turned around and stood up.  He is a tall, thin pale man. He looked at me and smiled.  After greeting Zhou, my translator, and me, he told us that there was too many people in that bookstore. He told us we should leave.

I gathered my things and started following him.  Neither one of us knew where he would take us. I decided to take my chances. I knew he would a good source for my story. I wondered if he was afraid of talking about sensitive topic to a complete stranger in a public place. I wanted to ask, but I reminded quiet.

The three of us walked out of the famous thinker’s bookstore located in the south gate in Peking University. We walked for a couple of blocks. Wee were quiet for the most part. I tried talk to him through my translator, but he didn’t seem too receptive.  After a couple of minutes he told us to stop.  He looked around and finally told us to follow him.

He walked into a colorful teahouse.  We followed closely.  The teahouse was impressive, full of color and Chinese music.  I was relived to see that he wanted to talk in a public space. I was relived to see that he didn’t go to a remote place.

He walked over the front desk and talked to the waitress. She smiled and told us to follow her.  We walked across the room.  As we walked more and more, there were less people and the beautiful decoration from the teahouse started to disappear.  I felt nervous.  We finally stopped.  We walked into an empty room in the back of the teahouse.  We sat down and as I took my recorder out the waitress brought me a cup of lemon tea.  She then looked ad me and walked away.

….long journey to a long interview.

The cab ride back to the hotel was even scarier. But I will save that for later.

small world?

Ever since we arrived in China I noticed the image of Che Guevara on posters and on t-shits. Then as I was walking around in the stores I noticed that many of the business were selling Che t-shirts. When I had dinner with a Zhu’s friend, He noticed that I was wearing a necklace with the image of Che.  He was really excited to find something in common with me.  He knew some English, so as soon as he saw the image around my neck he smiled and said “I know Che!” So we had a long conversation about the Cuban revolution. 

Today, as I we waited for our interview with the organizing committee for the 2008 Olympic games I heard a familiar word.  I noticed that the two men sitting next to me were speaking in Spanish.  I was really excited to finally understand what people were saying around me. I asked where they were from and both of them were Cuban.  One of them was a member of the State-run Cuban press who had an interview planned for the same morning and the other man was his translator.  Fidel, the translator, has been living in Beijing for 2 years.  He is master’s degree in linguistics.  He said that Latin America has a lot in common with China.  Since we didn’t have much time to talk, I’m still wondering what he meant by that.  For now, all I know is that the image of Che is somewhat popular in China.

Che t-shirts for sale in Chinese stores:
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Where's the Communism?

On the way back from the rural town of Zhujiajiao, we drove past a gigantic billboard next to a tollbooth.  Starting with a Shanghai skyline picture and ending in a set of tall, cookiecutter apartment buildings, the sprawling text was the first absolute evidence that we’re in a country that still espouses Communism: “Make efforts to build a greater socialistic progressive society!  Speed up the urbanization of the Qingpu District!”

Earlier that day, the Jing’an Temple unveiled a giant new pillared statue.  It couldn’t go without an extravagant ceremony, complete with rows of government and temple dignitaries (keep in mind that almost all religious organizations require government permission to operate), giving speeches in front of a large backdrop.  It took several minutes just to make sure the name placards were placed on the tables in exactly the right order.  It brought to my mind the tightly-structured Communist Party conferences, with giant slogans and rows and rows of higher-ups.

Beyond that, though, there have been very few overt signs of totalitarianism—in its place is something that leaders call “capitalism with Chinese characteristics.” Customs was a breeze, the police seem relatively passive, daily life goes on, and the late Chairman Mao has been relegated to a statue or two as well as the fronts of all our cash.  One theory is that Shanghai is the most Western of Chinese cities, and Beijing holds a different story.  We shall see later this week.