So, what is it like over there?
I get asked this question a lot. Depending on who is asking, I give various answers, none in conflict. Usually I tell them that my experiences are limited to Shenzhen, and tell them about how everyone there is from somewhere else, and so on.
This week I was talking to Randy's nephew who has been throughout Asia when he was in the Navy. He had been to Hong Kong, but at that time they were not allowed in the PRC. Somehow we were talking a little bit about the political situation in China and Taiwan. With the de-emphasizing of Mao in high school textbooks and the current campaign in Taiwan to forget about Chiang Kai-shek, as well as Randy's own experiences talking Chinese history with his Chinese co-workers, there seems to be a recurrent theme of revision. I know; that isn't news, but I was thinking about this one scene in Curse of the Golden Flower. On the eve of the Chrysanthemum Festival, the empress and her son (the emporer's second, the first son being the heir to the throne and not the current empress's son) have launched their plan to overthrow the emperor and replace him with the second son. Even with significant support from the military, the rebellion is completely (and at one point literally) crushed by those loyal to the emperor. The battle takes place in front of the palace and the plaza that has been decorated with hundreds of thousands of bright golden chrysanthemums is now drenched with blood and bodies. Immediately after all but the treasonous son have been killed in the battle, imperial servants come out to clean the mess. Ever so quickly are the thousands of bodies cleared out and blood washed away. Trampled and bloodied flowers are promptly replaced with fresh ones. In very short order, the palace grounds show no evidence that anything happened.
This is obviously no accident that Zhang Yimou staged this scene in this way. That is exactly how things work in China. If it is unpleasant, and it is gone, effort is make it look as though it never happened. It isn't just politically; you can see it commercially, too. I am anxious to see what is happening in our neighborhood in China. According to Randy, many of the bars under our apartment building are being evicted. I don't know yet what they are being replaced by, but I wonder if they really are kicking the Chicken Bars out of Shekou, since the government is reportedly cracking down on prostitution in Shenzhen
. If that is the case, I wonder what they will replace the Chicken Bars with? Some have already been converted to furniture and jewelry boutiques when I was there last year. Will it be as though those places never existed?
This week I was talking to Randy's nephew who has been throughout Asia when he was in the Navy. He had been to Hong Kong, but at that time they were not allowed in the PRC. Somehow we were talking a little bit about the political situation in China and Taiwan. With the de-emphasizing of Mao in high school textbooks and the current campaign in Taiwan to forget about Chiang Kai-shek, as well as Randy's own experiences talking Chinese history with his Chinese co-workers, there seems to be a recurrent theme of revision. I know; that isn't news, but I was thinking about this one scene in Curse of the Golden Flower. On the eve of the Chrysanthemum Festival, the empress and her son (the emporer's second, the first son being the heir to the throne and not the current empress's son) have launched their plan to overthrow the emperor and replace him with the second son. Even with significant support from the military, the rebellion is completely (and at one point literally) crushed by those loyal to the emperor. The battle takes place in front of the palace and the plaza that has been decorated with hundreds of thousands of bright golden chrysanthemums is now drenched with blood and bodies. Immediately after all but the treasonous son have been killed in the battle, imperial servants come out to clean the mess. Ever so quickly are the thousands of bodies cleared out and blood washed away. Trampled and bloodied flowers are promptly replaced with fresh ones. In very short order, the palace grounds show no evidence that anything happened.
This is obviously no accident that Zhang Yimou staged this scene in this way. That is exactly how things work in China. If it is unpleasant, and it is gone, effort is make it look as though it never happened. It isn't just politically; you can see it commercially, too. I am anxious to see what is happening in our neighborhood in China. According to Randy, many of the bars under our apartment building are being evicted. I don't know yet what they are being replaced by, but I wonder if they really are kicking the Chicken Bars out of Shekou, since the government is reportedly cracking down on prostitution in Shenzhen
. If that is the case, I wonder what they will replace the Chicken Bars with? Some have already been converted to furniture and jewelry boutiques when I was there last year. Will it be as though those places never existed?
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