Years of Poems and Spirits

It is just amazing how many regimes survive incredible odds just because they gained independence for their respective nations. Castro in Cuba, Mugabe in Zimbabwe, and of course, CCP in China. Although most people don’t care for the intimidation or the lack of freedom they live under, they nevertheless make peace with themselves by invoking the great deeds their own oppressor accomplished against the foreign ones.

In China, the CCP’s legacy rests largely on the notion that the Chinese were awaken by a rude yet immensely superior Imperial force. From what I was taught since grade school, the situation was described as a self-reliant China suddenly overun by foreign powers who had long-hatched plans to enslave China. That China was ill-prepared, for it had been an isolated nation for millenniums.

This narrative makes CCP looks like a real leader: it stepped up in a time of total confusion and utter chaos, and led the nation to self-determination against almost insurmountable odds.

I don’t buy this narrative at all. To me, the history should be read as:

1. As a nation, China is shaped by its constant interactions with foreigners throughout history.
2. The anger toward Imperialism, as well as a sense of impetence in face of it, is largely stoked by the rise of Japan. In other words, the defeat at the hands of the Japanese is both a last draw and a rallying cry.
3. The fact that modern Imperialism is such a shock to the Chinese is not because it is perpetrated by foreigners, or even militarily superior foreigners. Rather, it represents a superior civilization.

Therefore, my conjecture is that, national sovereignty or territorial integrity is just a MacGuffin in a larger play where the real emotional battles are at civilization level (not related to Huntington’s theme).

The “communists” prolonged the decline of the old Chinese civilization and was thanked for by the masses produced by such a civilization.

That is also why CCP can survive so many scandals, crimes and disasters.

More thoughts and proofs come later …

Can’t believe this. Just wrote this blog last night then today come across this article, 何晋：秦称“虎狼”考：兼论秦文化遇到的对抗. which basically says that Qin was an alien nation, forced itself upon China proper, and was eventually “Sinicized”. Again, this confirms my conjecture that China was never “isolated” and the fear of Modernization is the fear of being culturally defeated.

It is hard having not written anything for a long while. But a well-written essay is like a good meal that can jolt me into action.

The opening paragraph of Frank Rich’s column was the most delicious part:

WE like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean,  … So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down. Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43. He is not [even] a memorable villain  … He is smaller than life.

Well said. Recently, I watched the 95 movie Nixon where Antony Hopkins played the most Shakespearean President in history. Now another, “Frost and Nixon”, is playing. As I was watching the trailer, I was just thinking along the same line …

Every once in a while, I will have a Voila! moment when several discrete things all come together and a puzzle suddenly makes perfect sesne.

A while back when Katie Couric asked Palin what newspaper she read. She gave a very awkward and discursive answer. While I laughed at her with others, deep down, it didn’t make sense. Obviously, she read something. She is not the most intelligent person there is but she can’t possibly become who she is without reading anything. Later on, she explained to Lauer that she felt trapped by that question, as if “whatever I say will get me into trouble”.

Her explanation didn’t make sense to me: why the fuss? Just tell Couric anything, how could that have hurt? And many people felt the same way. But we all let it go. What is the big deal, after all.

But the epiphany came to me today. I came across a video of her giving an interview in Alaska. As she was recounting her VP experience and her renewed Alaskan family life, a guy was seen in the background stuffing a turkey–kicking and twisting–down a slaughter machine. As if that wasn’t enough, the guy was shaking and swaying with the bird (to drain blood?) as if in front of a urinal. What is worse, she was said to be there to perform the pre-Thanksgiving turkey pardon.

Then it suddenly hit me: no wonder she is so self-conscious of being trapped by journalists–from where she comes, the level of sensitivity and sophistication is just not there! Although Alaska is one of the highest per capita state of the most powerful nation in the world, it is still a very primitive place. Life’s challenge is still physical and perception of the ambient is largely visceral (Norbert Elias vs. Moose). She must be aware of that. No wonder she over-reacted, no wonder some Alaskan felt misunderstood by the lower-forty-eighters.

Had the economic crisis begun a couple of month late, she could have been our VP. It was as if Queen Sheba came to Israel, and stayed!

I don’t know why I still waste time on her. But the sense of discovery is quite intoxicating, I guess. Also, maybe one day I will look back at the last campaign and re-live the drama through things like this.