Yesterday, the first of October, marked the National Day holiday of the PRC. And not just any old national day…. But the big Six-Oh. That’s right, “New” China is over the hill. And how better to celebrate than with a giant military parade through Tiananmen Square, show-casing the latest and greatest of the People’s Liberation Army’s “toys?” My personal favorite was the woman on CCTV 9 calmly – almost nonchalantly – stating:
“And coming up next through the Square we have the PLA’s Nuclear Arsenal on display for the first time.”
No, seriously. I’m not kidding. You can’t make this stuff up. But don’t worry. We were all assured that the arsenal was purely for deterrence, and that China had definitively declined to engage in the nuclear arms race. Well, THAT’s a load off my mind!
I think the most interesting thing of this whole ordeal, though, has been talking to my co-teacher, Leon. Leon is a 22 year old Shanghainese, who went into law school, and then into the Notary Public Office, failed to get into Police School because of an eye problem, and so (curiously) decided to apply for a job a Longman, even though he said “before this job I hated kids.” Yeah, interesting guy. But fun, most of the time… in a Chinese sort of way. Anyway, one of our conversations on the metro ride home ended up drifting toward the then-upcoming national day parade. I ask him his thoughts on it (as always, keeping any point of view I have on the topic as neutral as I can. I try to simply pose open, neutral questions, and then log answers.)
His response was, in summation, that he thought it was both good and important for a government/military to have these sorts of showcases, because it showed everyone how powerful they were as a country. Bemused, I asked if he knew how many military parades the US had every year. He half smiled… yeah, he knew the answer was somewhere between nil and none. Actually, strike that. We do hold military parades. Except they in other countries. And we call them military operations. Ah, semantics, semantics, semantics.
It does strike me as the coming directly from the “Standard Chinese Answer Guidebook” I’m convinced each and every member of the population receives at birth, though. The books that tells them to answer every question posed about China with (Choose One):
A) unquestioning child-like trust of the government
B) fanatical hyperpatriotism
C) rage over wars/injustices long-past
D) the semi-veiled suggestion that, you being a foreigner, could not possibly ever understand any aspect of China in a true sense, and you really ought to just shut up with the questions already.
Living here, I’m often reminded a little bit of certain video games – namely flight simulators, or 3D worlds (like World of Warcraft, for instance). As a foreigner, China can be a very freeing and open experience in many regards. But no matter how open and infinite that digital sky might seem, if you stare just a little longer, you realize that the clouds aren’t moving. As you try to fly over to the next continent to see what’s there, you suddenly and inexplicably hit a giant, impenetrable, invisible wall. Granted, you’re only gently rebuffed (rather than plowing your jet full force into a brick wall, it’s like hitting an impenetrable trampoline), but there’s no way you’re going any further. You’ve reached the edge of the map… the box. It’s a soft, pretty box… but it’s got six sides and holds you just as firmly.
Get the metaphor? Yeah, maybe it was a little too techy. Go watch The Truman Show and you’ll see what I’m getting at.
(CS) TAW Out.
The lycanthropic jottings of my fourth year prowling the Chinese moonlight.
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