Picture This...


Nearly everyone on facebook will have seen this photo soon, I'm sure, and the accompanying text sent with it goes something like:

"interesting pic showing Chinese Military donning Tibetan Monk's robes before going on to riot and cause trouble disguised as monks.....circulate this pic please"

I don't know what the Chinese army were doing carrying a bunch of Tibetan Monk's Robes as the photo doesn't really prove anything, but it's hard to think of another credible explanation. Doubtless the Chinese Government will say something like "Chinese
Soldiers prepare to go undercover to infiltrate separatist groups" or "Why is the Western media interfering in China's domestic policy?" (and thus changing the subject, again).

But....hmmmm....

I love Beijing and the people and the country - one can't blame a population for its crappy Government, right? But I can't help but think of two places all the indignant Westerners should be focusing their energies instead of bitching and chest-beating about China on the Guardian Messageboard; places closer to home with human rights issues - it's smug, racist condescension focusing largely on China's Human Rights problems--of which there are many--without trying to clean up one's own back yard; like fixing/civilizing those savage little yellow people takes precedence over, say, an illegal prison near Cuba, or the treatment of immigrants in prisons in the UK....and I love the USA too, btw. It is a fucking great idea, truth be told, better than all that classist bullshit I grew up with. But nowhere gets it completely right and while China should not be excused there's just something so sanctimonious about the concerns with China's human rights issues now. Lots of haughty, colonialist hand-wringing that smells just off. I don't think China's faults should be ignored, but it's like people are soooo upset about it yet at home, with issues with their own Governments.... I mean, to be honest, considering what's happened since 2001 it's risible that the citizens of both the UK and US can get upset at what happened in Tibet when they're funding the situation in Iraq. And symptomatic of a western point of view of Asia. I'm not defending the appalling Chinese Human Rights record, or saying it shouldn't be brought out for discussion, but it's the superior tone it's discussed in I object to. And if you've seen white people in Asia this might make even more sense; we're like a rash....


To be honest, after spending nearly five months in China I just can't see China changing to adopt Western standards. Why would they? Their culture is over 5000 years old, and they revolutionized their system only 60 years ago (Before the PRC was formed in 1949 China was, mostly, run as a feudal society with the poor being eternally very poor and the rich being very rich, hence the revolution after the disillusionment with the Emporer and his over-privileged, ineffectual ilk). They're already getting all the trade they want because of our demands for cheap products. Assuming that at some point in the future the Chinese government is going to say, "Shit, this system seems to be getting us lots of money and influence, but you know, isn't it time we were just a bit nicer?" is naive, bourgeois bollocks. China's only real issue will be when its own middle class start wanting the same freedoms of travel and investment as we have in the West. That's what 's going to change China, not some sabre rattling from Western Governments who dare not upset China too much in case it impedes the import of $2 towels and tee-shirts at Wal-Mart (Or Asda, in the UK) and thus alienates their own voters.

China's name in Chinese is Zhongguo which means "Middle Kingdom". They don't care so much about the rest of the world as most of their experiences of the rest of the world in recent history have been negative - be it the Japanese invading Manchuria, or the Portuguese and British forcing trade concessions on China (the Opium War, which funded the British Empire, was the UK going to war with China for the right to sell heroin to the Chinese people....), or the French, Germans and Americans all coming to get a cut. So of course, yes, they'll improve Human Rights for the Olympics...sure. You want fries with that?

That's what I think. But wtf do I know? My last last job was holding a flashlight for Holly Hunter at a sales conference...

Anyway, soldiers playing fancy dress, anyone?