Being in Wuxi for the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall is a bizarre thing. On my computer here in the heart of the People's Republic of China, I can read all sorts of stories about the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall -- proof, surely that Communism was a grand and colossal failure. Rising from my chair and looking our my apartment living room in China, I see a government building. In the general area of my apartment there are many government buildings with the Red Flag of the Chinese Communists in front of every one. On many of the buildings, the government seal is the seal of the Chinese Communist Party. So there is a big conflict between thought and reality.
Being here in Communist China in the post Communist era one has to divide oneself into two halves: one part of you thinks that China is making progress -- the dictatorship is surely benevolent; the other part must willfully be blind the evil aspects -- you can't talk about the famines, Tibet, Xinjiang, the riots, and the fact that Chairman Mao was the greatest murderer of all history.
A foreigner spending so much time, as I have, here must being doing something to his soul -- he has made a pact with the Devil. I deal with it by keeping to myself. I married and gave up a bachelor life. I find myself railing from afar at Obama because I wouldn't dare say anything about the government here.
And yet I can't say China hasn't been good to me -- for it has given me Jenny and Tony.
But I don't thank the Chicoms for them. I thank the China of the 300 Tang Poets and the Buddhists for my two blessings.
Very honest post. We lived in China for a long time, too. Can you read Chinese? The poet Ai Qing visited Berlin in 1979 and wrote a poem about the wall. Maybe you know it. I put some links and photos for the anniversary on my blog yesterday: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/dujuan99nihon/30360366.html
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid I can't read Chinese.
I very much interested in that poem.
Do you have a translation?