Being Chinese in an anti-China world

I speak & think in English. But I'm genetically Chinese and that is problematic in an anti-China Western world.

Photo by Hyunwon Jang on Unsplash

We were just having a normal conversation under the warm Adelaide sun when she said, “I hate Chinese people. Hate them.”

I stared at her, wondering if she realised that I am Chinese. I mean, I knew she meant China Chinese, but it still shocked me. It was at that moment that I realised that she didn’t see me as Chinese … because I didn’t fit the mold.

Malaysians are often puzzling to most Westerners, and probably most Asians too. We have crazy context-switching skills.

For the longest time, I thought that just meant our ability to switch from English, Mandarin, and Malay at the drop of a hat. But it’s more than that. Not only can we switch languages, we can switch how we interact with different cultures so that they can be comfortable with us. To do so, we must understand the cultures of the West and the East at once.

This is because Malaysia, like most South-East Asian countries, is squished between the West and the East. To survive, we had to be able to relate and interact with these powerful blocs without being, well, bombed.

What has this got to do with China?

When I foolishly wade into “China is evil” debates on social media, I always tell the poster, “It’s complicated. China is not evil. She is just different.”

That doesn’t satisfy the mobs, of course, who want an evil character to demonise.

I'm not pro-China, but the fact that I say anything good about China would probably mark me as a China sympathiser. This has been my experience on the far-left-leaning social media platform, Mastodon. And since the West’s left and the right are united in their hatred of China, I expect the same if I were to do so on Twitter.

First, why I’m not pro-China:

• I find their encroachment into the South China Sea problematic.

• I view the Belt Road initiative with suspicion.

• There are a lot of questionable disappearances of notable people in the past.

• The murkiness of the whole Xinjiang situation.

• The controlling and uncommunicative ways of her government.

However, I’m genetically and culturally (at least half of me, anyway) Chinese. The Chinese diaspora has an unerring way of retaining their traditions despite centuries of growing apart from their homeland. And as a Malaysian, I’m part of that heritage.

The best analogy I can come up with is Italian Americans. They often proudly consider themselves Italian, even when most Americans laugh at them for saying that. They may be mostly American, but they sure ain’t gonna forget that two centuries ago, their great-great-grandpa or grandma was from Italy.

I’m Peranakan — I belong to the group of Chinese who migrated to Malaya centuries ago and have married local Malay women and assimilated Malay culture. We dress and eat like the Malays. Some of us can only speak Malay. However, most Peranakans have stubbornly held on to their Chinese traditions.

So, that means I understand Chinese traditions and mindsets.

I can’t comment on China’s government, of course. That’ll be a joke as I don't live there and thus do not understand the nuances of her politics.

But it thoroughly alarms me that the West is getting China and her culture so wrong, and that the Western media seems determined to paint everything about China as terrible.

I can’t help but conclude that they’re deliberately getting it wrong to paint a negative perception of China because it suits Western interests to demonise China.

There is also a trend in the West to portray China as the bad guy and to paint her people as a bloc. According to the West, China’s people need to be “rescued” because they are “helpless”, “oppressed” people who can’t speak up for themselves.

This is just an updated version of the White Man’s Burden.

Definition of White Man’s Burden:

The imperialist interpretation of "The White Man's Burden" (1899) proposes that the white race is morally obliged to civilise the non-white peoples of planet Earth, and to encourage their progress (economic, social, and cultural) through colonialism.

Wikipedia

Anyway, how does the West plan to liberate the Chinese people?

With the power of democracy.

You mean the same democracy in the United States where the gap between the rich and the poor is so wide that homeless people line the streets? Or that people fear a job loss because that meant the loss of their healthcare and their homes? Oh, that same democracy?

The fact that some Westerners are tweeting, tooting that the West needs to liberate China with democracy and how unaware of their White Man Burden-ess makes me …

I am also utterly exasperated that Westerners do not see history repeating itself.

Remember Vietnam? Remember Iraq? Remember the stories in the Western media about how Iraqis needed to be liberated?

These stories are so convenient aren’t they, to groom you into thinking it’s fine to invade a sovereign country.

I mean, let’s just call a spade a spade, shall we?

You guys are being played.

By who? By the people who want a war to happen, perhaps. Or by the folks who want to hang on to power.

Listen, guys. China is fine.

Here’s a different tactic.

Instead of pointing fingers at other countries and calling out their “evils” and shortcomings, perhaps countries like the United States and Britain or whatever can train their resources and will to better themselves and fix their own problems.

Imagine if the US diverted some of that miliary money to:

• Create a healthcare system that benefits everyone, regardless of employment status or income

• Build a transportation systems that allows for fast, efficient and cheap travel for ordinary folks

• Get homeless people back on their feet

• Provide temporary income for retrenched people. In Malaysias, we get to benefit from the Employment Insurance System, where we get some job search and training allowance while we find the next job.

• Revive decaying and falling cities

I can go on, but you are probably in utopia right now thinking about this.

Mind you, I wish the same for my country, but Malaysia has a Western-ish style democracy where voters are easily manipulated to get the most popular guy to the seat of power, so the development of my country is not always prioritised. Because the popular guy always knows how to manipulate the voters’ via their biases, fears, and ideologies.

And so, yes, I’m really familiar with this style of manipulation! I am, after all, Chinese, also my country’s favourite bogeyman. And by the way, election season is back in Malaysia and the saber-rattling is back. So, I’m staying away from social media.

So, before you leap into a China is evil debate on social media, ask yourself:

• Have you visited China or spoken to a China Chinese person about life in China?

• Before you lament about Xinjiang, perhaps also think about Abu Ghraib and the Vietnam war?

• Are you engaging in White Man’s Burden?

It’s nice to have a black and white narrative to make you feel better about your culture and civilisation. It’s rather reassuring to have a bogeyman to direct your frustrations at, to be that explanation why your life is crap in your country.

We all know that life isn’t that simple.

If you do not trust me, a “biased” member of the Chinese diaspora, perhaps listen to this American guy:

So, before you throw a rock at China on social media, remember this:

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

— Matthew 7:5 English Standard Version 2016 (ESV)

I rarely write about politics, because it highlights the worst of humanity. However, I will speak up when I see information manipulation to suit an agenda that would probably doom mankind.