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Shanghai Surprise: China's Rudeness Is Its Strength
Brashly outlawing use of Windows in much of its government sector, China
signals that it knows it can compete -- and win
By Pueng Vongs,
Pacific News Service
SHANGHAI - August 13, 2004 - By the sixth time I was lied to, pushed around and cursed at, my
illusions of grandeur about Shanghai began to crumble.
I had been seduced by this mysterious and glamorous city. Shanghai is China's
new economic starchild, spoiled with flashy skyscrapers, urbane restaurants and
tony shops. I pictured myself luxuriating in East-West decadence: French
colonial and traditional Ming architecture, Armani suits and silky cheongsams.
But after just one morning, it felt more like being lost in the dank, sinister
alleyways of a city desperate to rid itself of its drab peasant clothes.
Wealth is locked away or dangled by the few before the many who seem to stop at
nothing to get a piece of it. I was frequent prey to pickpockets and
well-dressed shysters. I was shoved to the ground for a postage stamp, harassed
and tailed endlessly by shopkeepers. I became a naïve target for indiscriminate
expressions of anger.
A cab driver not so gently told me there was no such thing as the popular
ancient gardens I had asked him to take me. The ferocity of his anger made me
cower. His face was red and his words peppered me like machinegun fire. There's
nothing like being cursed out in Mandarin.
I'm an ethnic Chinese whose family is only two generations removed from the
Mainland. I had envisioned a momentous reunion with my people. They would
welcome their little sister who was back from a foreign land. My familiar
features, which kept me separate in the United States, would be my key to
togetherness in the motherland. Instead, my face ended up on the receiving end
of the cabdriver's spittle.
Welcome to Shanghai, a city that has yet to master its PR. You don't often hear
about the darker side of "China's booming, economic hub" or "cosmopolitan,
modern Chinese city." It's Shanghai's dirty little secret.
Disoriented and fuming over my treatment but unsure whom to aim my anger at, I
naturally turned it inward. Yes, I discovered how truly American I was, but also
how Chinese. I was disregarding China's legacy of violent oppression, widespread
poverty and devastating famines and expecting the country to become my
luxurious, exotic playground. But most Chinese still can't afford to live in the
hype of the present.
It's also easy as an outsider to point to the failings of the government or the
culture for the bad behavior of the masses. But it isn't that simple, because
this conduct appears on all levels of Chinese society and is behind much of
China's success. For example, the thieving and conniving on the streets is
matched by rampant bribery and corruption on the corporate level that would make
Enron seem like child's play.
Yet, China is also growing one of the world's most explosive economies. Beijing
recently pulled a bait-and-switch when, disregarding earlier promises made to
the World Trade Organization, it chose not to honor U.S. pharmaceutical giant
Pfizer's patent for the impotence drug Viagra. Instead, Beijing let Chinese
companies copy the drug. The United States vigorously condemned the action, but
Beijing has played this game many times over.
My startling experience with the male cab driver was typical. I was bullied
numerous times mostly by Chinese males, which did not sit well with my American
feminist self. Their behavior is rooted in the top-down, patriarchal, Confucian
outlook which imposes order on more than a billion people. Dissension or
independence is rarely tolerated. This thinking is at the core of the religious
persecution and human rights abuses for which China is heavily criticized. But
it's also the outlook pushing forward the Chinese economy as others flounder.
Hubris created by success has allowed China to challenge U.S. software giant
Microsoft. Beijing is beginning to outlaw the use of the Microsoft operating
system in much of the government sector. Instead, it's promoting software
created by Chinese companies based on the Linux operating system. This is a
brash act by a country that knows it no longer needs to rely on multinationals,
that it's strong enough to compete and eventually overtake competitors.
Microsoft is scrambling to soften the blow because it knows, like the rest of
us, that there's no choice but to accept how China chooses to define itself.
I thought I would join the legions of China critics, but I found myself feeling
protective and respectful of this nation, which continues to maneuver ahead on
its own power, setting its own rules.
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Pueng Vongs is an editor at PNS and New California Media. |
