> Views from India: China syndrome
>
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> China syndrome
> 24 Jun, 2007 l 0039 hrs ISTlShobhaa De
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> Ten days after coming back from China, I'm still reeling. And slightly
> jealous. No matter what anyone tells you - size does matter. Let's stop
> fooling ourselves - as of now, the Chinese Dragon is bigger, better and
> smarter than the Indian Tiger. If we don't wake up and smell the
> ginseng, we are in trouble. The road to Mt Everest is symbolic of the
> present government's soaring ambition. China will stop at nothing to
> prove a point to the watching world as a run-up to the Beijing Olympics
> in 2008. And we won't need fortune cookies to tell us what China has in
> mind outside the sports arena. Simply put: China is all set to dominate
> the world. It is a one point programme that will stop at nothing to wow
> critics and prove who's boss.
>
> The new aggressive mood is most evident in Beijing, which is bursting
> with frenzied building activity that literally takes one's breath away -
> a thick pollution haze hangs over the city, completely obscuring the
> sky. Nobody minds. It's all for a good cause. Entire streets have been
> razed, thousands of citizens dislodged to make way for stadia, hotels,
> pools, bridges, underpasses. Over 30 super-luxury hotels now dot the
> sprawling city of 20 million with not a beggar in sight. Food is
> unbelievably cheap - a large bowl of fried rice sells for Rs 10 at a
> good restaurant. Contrasts abound. The priciest brands from Europe have
> set up shop and can't keep up with the demand. If anybody is
> complaining, you certainly don't hear it. Young girls stroll
> nonchalantly in the infamous Tiananmen Square wearing T-shirts that
> declare cheekily: 'Let's go out tonight and get laid'. The cops look the
> other way.
>
> That is a Chinese speciality. Everybody is trained to look the other
> way. Locals insist the massacre at Tiananmen Square never happened. It's
> all a part of Western propaganda. With zero access to the real world and
> a tightly controlled media that stresses on personal sacrifice,
> discipline, progress, the young don't know they're supposed to be
> rebellious and restless like their counterparts everywhere else in the
> free world. Officially, Mao is still worshipped, even if the first
> victims of the Cultural Revolution are totally marginalised in today's
> impatient China, which doesn't know what to do with them or how to deal
> with the embarrassment. While the incongruity of a Christina Aguilera
> concert in the Chinese capital is not lost on cynical expats who laugh
> at such cultural absurdities, young Chinese go about their slightly
> schizophrenic existence in a state of denial. Said a Belgian businessman
> who has made Beijing his home, "Nobody wants to confront the truth. The
> young don't want to deal with communism... there is much confusion about
> values."
>
> There is caution in the air, too, and Big Brother is definitely watching
> (he needs eyes and ears everywhere to track over 1.3 billion Chinese).
> Despite that, one is pleasantly surprised to see familiar symbols of
> greed and ostentation as Prada and Gucci billboards compete with Nicole
> Kidman peddling a luxury watch. Huge hoardings announce the staging of a
> Chinese Romeo and Juliet musical extravaganza, while at my own book
> reading in Beijing, there is a hint of nervousness, but no attempt to
> censor. Sure, Beijing is bizarre and contradictory (the doorman of our
> hotel is a turbaned Mumbaiwalla called Ismail!). But come the Olympics
> in 2008, the Dragon will prove to the world that scale equals power.
>
> Do we need to worry? Well, over a civilised lunch with our 'Singing
> Ambassador', the very capable and calm Nirupama Rao, this was our
> Chinese takeaway from the trip: Said the lady wisely, "Let's face it. We
> can't march to Beijing and they can't march to Delhi... the bottomline
> is patience." Confuscious couldn't have stated it better!
>
>
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