One of the most depressing moments in my experience of teaching in universities here came a few years ago, when I was discussing preparations for the Olympics with a group of sophomores.
We got on to the issues of security and policing, and I suggested that extra manpower might be needed.
The first rather naive response was that the entire police force from nearby cities such as Tianjin would be bussed over here. ("What - all of them? Isn't Tianjin hosting some Olympic events as well? And don't you think there's some danger of a crimewave, if there are no police left there at all?" No, actually, I rather liked that idea: I pictured a mass mah jong tournament between the police forces of the two cities.)
Then several people suggested we could just use the army.
Now, there's a place for the armed services in the security arrangements, of course - specialist rapid-response units to deal with bomb disposal or hostage-taking incidents, that kind of thing. But putting the military out on the streets for regular policing duties, maintaining public order? That really doesn't look good. It makes it look as though your government is so unpopular that there is a constant threat of riot or revolt, and that the only way it can control its own people is by the threat of armed force. (They did in fact station quite a number of members of the armed forces along the main routes north from the city centre to the Olympic Green - but at least they were in ceremonial uniform, and only carrying sidearms, not rifles or machine-guns. Even so, I felt it created a slightly creepy, threatening atmosphere.)
The majority of these kids, alas, had grown up in complete ignorance of what happened here in 1989. They didn't know that the murder of civilians by the PLA is still what Beijing and Tiananmen Square is best known for around most of the world. They didn't understand the resonances of deploying soldiers on the streets of your capital city, didn't recognise the signals that it sends to people.
That, for me, is one of the most terrible things about this week's anniversary. The Party's propaganda on the subject has been largely successful. Today, most people in this country probably neither know nor care very much about the 1989 crackdown; even those that know something about it mostly fail to understand why it's so important.
13 comments:
I think that could be explained as a "cultural conflict".
In fact there is not a clear line between police force and army in chinese traditional culture. In history this line even didn't exist. Even now, in China, people's armed police force is still a well trained sub-military "police" equiped with full automatic firearms, AMCs, Tanks and even anti-aircraft missles and of course, rubber bullets, gas, shields and batons.
Froog, you are a little bit emotionally "fragile" this time:) If you diccuss the whole thing opendly with those guys, I bet you will become crazy soon. There are bunch of bastards still believe that the crackdown is necessary and the killing is right, even they have lived in free world for years.
Well, "police" forces are a relatively modern development; so, in the more distant past, rulers in all countries simply used their armies to maintain public order. And of course there's a certain grey area between the police and the military. However, I would like to think that the development of the "policing' concept is one of the more enlightened and useful features of modern societies, and the distinction between 'police' and 'army' isn't hard for anyone to discern - even "in Chinese".
I don't know what the history of the 'Armed Police' here in China is - does it pre-date 1989, or is it a response to that? Either way, it is another very unfortunate reminder of this government's attitude to its people - that any amount of force can and will be used against the people if they seek to oppose it. A police force with tanks?! It's ridiculous, grotesque, disgusting.
China's government isn't the only one that uses force against those opposing it. The democratic USA
used COINTELPRO to subvert and destroy the Black Panthers. Another incident involved the firebombing of an entire neighborhood to kill a few 'enemies of the state.' Tell me if that isn't ridiculous and grotesque, expecially when it was committed by a government that advocates human rights.
Oh god, more fenqing twaddle! I suppose it is at least amusingly 'appropriate' to this post's title.
'Show relevance', as they say in American courtrooms.
Yes, America and many other countries have been guilty of inappropriate, excessive, and illegal uses of force against their own people. SFW? Whenever it happens, it's always wrong. I get so fucking fed up of this inane Chinese tactic of just ignoring the issue and saying "Let's talk about something else" every single goddamned time someone says something you "don't feel comfortable with".
Yes,, you might be able to find incidents in other countries that are parallel in some ways (China's "friends" like Myanmar, North Korea, and Uzbekistan are particularly good at the massacre thing), but the Tiananmen atrocity was - as far as I can recall - a unique event in its sheer fucking scale. Are there any other examples of a government unleashing two full armoured divisions on its capital city??
Aren't you being awfully presumptuous by assuming that I'm a fenqing or even Chinese, for that matter?
Well, it may surprise you that even non-Chinese can see through the hypocrisy spewed by the perpetually self-righteous.
Yes, of course it's an 'assumption' (not really a 'presumption') to suppose that you're Chinese. Your attitude is classic "fenqing"; and 99.999% of fenqing are Chinese; so it's an entirely fair and reasonable assumption, even if it happens to be wrong.
If you're not Chinese and haven't suffered the thought-moulding of the Chinese education system, you've go not excuse for being such a dick.
Now FUCK OFF.
Easy, Froog...
Typical fenqing style~:)
He even didn't mention "KENT", "National Guard", etc. They are idiots, and in a same mass-produced way.
To THOSE fenqing: Go back to your PARTY-Mommy's house which makes you excited.
What point were you trying to make when you were implying that aj21 is Chinese?
You were only revealing your true fucking colors: a fucking racist.
And I'm sick and tired of your fucking attitudes that you show when someone stands up to challenge you.
Who do you think you are? Some kind of god that can't be challenged?
Don't ever ASSUME that!
If you had a decent education and were capable of understanding English, it would be easy enough to understand what my point about "aj21" was.
He's an ill-educated and obnoxious extreme China-nationalist. Kind of unusual for someone like that not to be Chinese. Nothing racist about that observation. Just anti-"extreme nationalist".
Lots of Chinese are capable of understanding English, thinking independently, and resisting the xenophobic and frequently racist propaganda of the CCP. I have no problem at all with Chinese folks like that.
Foul-mouthed dickheads like you, though, can just FUCK OFF AND DIE.
What you just said reveals that you are either a prick or a retard:
"He is ...an extreme China-nationalist. Kind of unusual for someone like that not to be Chinese."
You see now your fucking problem in logic?
Do I need to tell you that it is like you prove that you are a prick by assuming that you are a prick.
I suggest you go back to your middle school in the backwater or whereever, and learn something called LOGIC!
Also, 99.9999% of Chinese don't understand English (and of course are not ilogical like you). You have problem with 99.9999% of us?
You are an asshole when freqently using "English" to deride people.
When doing so, you need to look at yourself in the mirror:
As you wrote yourself, you have lived in China for more than 5 (?)years, yet you still have to rely on the kindness of Chinese strangers to fill out the forms in Chinese in your bank!
And you were angry/annoyed that that particular bank clerk did not speak English to you?
Well, I'm touched that you have read so obsessively, Fenqing stalker, without understanding anything.
I have lots of posts (exaggerated for humorous effect) on why I don't feel much need to learn Chinese, and also quite a lot on why I am very tolerant of Chinese people in service jobs not being able to speak any or much English.
If you want to make a point, please make a point. Don't just ramble and abuse.
I have no time for this brainless invective, so..... unless you actually have anything to say, you will be "harmonised" from here on.
Yes, I have "harmonised" you, in-ur-face - because your comments have been tedious, abusive, brainless, and incoherent. And not discernibly related to this post.
If you want to take issue with my lack of Chinese language ability, go and talk about that on the posts where I have written on that topic. That's not the subject here.
I criticise you - and other "fenqing" commenters - for your lack of English ability, only because you are choosing to try to comment in English on an English-language blog. Quite clearly your level of English is not good enough to understand clearly what I (or my other commenters, some of whom are Chinese) are saying, nor is it good enough for you to express your own thoughts intelligibly. So - you're wasting your time. And mine too. Go away and find something more appropriate to your reading level.
Wish I'd arrived sooner. Looks like the show's over.
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