I have never been honoured for the game

--a letter to editor of the Globe and Mail

Xianshu Liu

Thank Globe and Mail for your articles about Beijing. I read these articles every day. As a Chinese from Beijing, I left there for Toronto one month ago, I’ll stay here for six weeks, almost miss the Olympic game.

According to your articles, Beijing is becoming a crazy stupid city. Is it the city where I have lived for 20 years?

“The volunteers of Hongxialu are just one cog in a vast machinery of surveillance in Beijing these days. Across the city, a network of 400,000 informants and volunteers has been mobilized to keep an eye out in their communities. The old Maoist system of neighbourhood committees, which had largely fallen into irrelevance in the past decade, is being revived again as a tool of social control.”

“Coaches are sent across China to search for promising children in kindergartens and schoolyards. They look for kids with the right physique who seem particularly agile as they run and jump. The best youngsters are removed from their families and sent to boarding schools, where everything revolves around their training.”

“Don't wear white socks with black leather shoes. Shake hands for only three seconds……China's long march to better etiquette has been under way for years, promoted zealously by millions of campaign volunteers and official booklets — including the rules listed above. But yesterday the government declared victory, announcing that China's personal manners have improved enough to reach Olympic standards.”

I can tell all the bad things which I’m familiar and have been criticizing. I’m a critical journalist and writer too, maybe you can’t believe there are journalists critical of government in China, the truth is there are a lot, surviving in different ways.

I like all the ironic tastes in your articles. So many things should be criticized in China! Chinese people need criticism from outside, I think, sometimes that’s helpful. Especially, I appreciate your articles about internet censorship, I hope the censorship finished as soon as possible.

But I have to say, Official Beijing is just one part of Beijing. If you just keep your eyes on Beijing’s officials, if you just want to use the official information proving the Beijing officials’ crazy, you can’t see the true China.

When you see the armbands wearing by volunteers in neighbourhood, you feel that’s the Mao’s time coming back, you’ll be watched day and night. But this kind of comment maybe is unfair for most volunteers. Why don’t you interview some volunteers by yourself? To ask what they will do and what they can do. During the Olympic game, terrorism is a big challenge to everyone, mobilizing ordinary people as security volunteers maybe is a good attempt. Today is not Mao’s time, every Chinese including those volunteers know that.

About Chinese government’s competition sport system, I have ever written some critical articles too. I don’t like the system absolutely. However, “Coaches are sent across China to search for promising children in kindergartens and schoolyards”,” The best youngsters are removed from their families and sent to boarding schools, where everything revolves around their training”, this kind of description is exaggerated. Youngsters will not be removed if their parents don’t agree, the parents and the kids can choose. In Chinese competition sport system, there are moving stories of individual heroes too. These stories have no relation with the politics.

China is not a democratic country yet, and also it is not a communist country anymore. To find out and report the truth and the change in China, you need to interview more people and ask more questions. You can’t judge only according to officials’ statements.

About Olympic game, I would like to share my individual feeling with you, as one Beijing’s citizen. I wonder why so many western people think the Olympic game is a reward to Chinese government as the Chinese government say that’s an honour of Chinese people. NO! I believe it’s a big trick on Chinese governments and Chinese people. I have never been honoured for it.

What’s the honour? The Chinese governments spend so much Chinese people’s money to prepare for the game and treat the foreign guests, without the discussion and permit from people, and what do they get back? What do Chinese people get from the game? Even they can’t get worthless praise from international society.

I am not expecting the praise to Chinese government, you don’t need to worry about that, the government will praise themselves. But I’m expecting something which are helpful or encouraging to the ordinary Chinese people. I hope all the irony and criticism sent from Beijing is worth what we have spent.

As a matter of fact, sometimes I wonder why people living far away from China (such as Toronto) pay so much attention to Beijing and China, there are several articles about China almost on every day’s Globe and Mail.

If you do care about human rights in China (thanks for that), why don’t you talk to ordinary people, especially to young generation directly? Don’t think the Chinese government can control everything and every people, no, I believe Chinese citizens are becoming the critical power to balance the government. In terms of the Olympic, It’s not only relate to Chinese government, also relate to Chinese people. Go out to find something different from crazy officials, that’s my suggestion.