Tony Blair on China

We Can Help China Embrace the Future
By TONY BLAIR
August 26, 2008; Page A21

The Beijing Olympic Games were a powerful spectacle, stunning in sight andsound. But the moment that made the biggest impression on me came during aninformal visit just before the Games to one of the new Chinese Internetcompanies, and in conversation with some of the younger Chinese entrepreneurs.

These people, men and women, were smart, sharp, forthright, unafraid toexpress their views about China and its future. Above all, there was aconfidence, an optimism, a lack of the cynical, and a presence of thespirit of get up and go, that reminded me greatly of the U.S. at its bestand any country on its way forward.

These people weren't living in fear, but looking forward in hope. And forall the millions still in poverty in China, for all the sweep of issues --political, social and economic -- still to be addressed, that was thespirit of China during this festival of sport, and that is the spirit thatwill define its future.

During my 10 years as British leader, I could see the accelerating pace ofChina's continued emergence as a major power. I gave speeches about China,I understood it analytically. But I did not feel it emotionally andtherefore did not fully understand it politically.

Since leaving office I have visited four times and will shortly returnagain. People ask what is the legacy of these Olympics for China? It isthat they mark a new epoch -- an opening up of China that can never bereversed. It also means that ignorance and fear of China will steadilydecline as the reality of modern China becomes more apparent.

Power and influence is shifting to the East. In time will come India, too.Some see all this as a threat. I see it as an enormous opportunity. But wehave to exercise a lot of imagination and eliminate any vestiges of historic arrogance.

The volunteer force that staged the Games was interested, friendly andhelpful. The whole feel of the city was a world away from the China Iremember on my first visit 20 years ago. And the people are proud, reallyand honestly proud, of their country and its progress.

No sensible Chinese person -- including the country's leadership -- doubtsthere remain issues of human rights and political and religious freedom tobe resolved. But neither do the sensible people -- including the mostWestern-orientated Chinese -- doubt the huge change, for the better, therehas been. China is on a journey. It is moving forward quickly. But it knowsperfectly well the journey is not complete. Observers should illuminate thedistance to go, by all means, but recognize the distance traveled.

The Chinese leadership is understandably preoccupied with internaldevelopment. Beijing and Shanghai no more paint for you the completepicture of China than New York and Washington do of the U.S. Understandingthe internal challenge is fundamental to understanding China, its politicsand its psyche. We in Europe have roughly 5% of our population employed inagriculture. China has almost 60%. Over the coming years it will seek tomove hundreds of millions of its people from a rural to an urban economy.Of course India will seek to do the same, and the scale of thistransformation will create huge challenges and opportunities in the economy, the environment and politically.

For China, this economic and social transformation has to come with political stability. It is in all our interests that it does. The policy of One China is not a piece of indulgent nationalism. It is an existential issue if China is to hold together in a peaceful and stable manner as itmodernizes. This is why Tibet is not simply a religious issue for China buta profoundly political one -- Tibet being roughly a quarter of China's landmass albeit with a small population.

So we should continue to engage in a dialogue over the issues that rightly concern people, but we should conduct it with at least some sensitivity to the way China sees them.

This means that the West needs a strong partnership with China, one thatgoes deep, not just economically but politically and culturally. The truthis that nothing in the 21st century will work well without China's fullengagement. The challenges we face today are global. China is now a majorglobal player. So whether the issue is climate change, Africa, world tradeor the myriad of security questions, we need China to be constructive; weneed it to be using its power in partnership with us. None of this means weshouldn't continue to raise the issues of human rights, religious freedomsand democratic reforms as European and American leaders have done in recent weeks.

It is possible to hyperbolize about the rise of China. For example,Europe's economies are still major and combined outreach those of China and India combined. But, as the Olympics and its medal tables show, it is notgoing to stay that way. This is a historic moment of change. Fast forward10 years and everyone will know it.

For centuries, the power has resided in the West, with various European powers including the British Empire and then, in the 20th century, the U.S. Now we will have to come to terms with a world in which the power is shared with the Far East. I wonder if we quite understand what that means, we whose culture (not just our politics and economies) has dominated for so long. It will be a rather strange, possibly unnerving experience. Personally, I think it will be incredibly enriching. New experiences; new ways of thinking liberate creative energy. But in any event, it will be afact we have to come to terms with. For the next U.S. president, this willbe or should be at the very top of the agenda, and as a result of thestrength of the Sino-U.S. relationship under President Bush, there is asound platform to build upon.

The Olympics is now the biggest sporting event in the world, and because ofthe popularity of sport it is therefore one of the events that makes agenuine impact on real people. These Games have given people a glimpse ofmodern China in a way that no amount of political speeches could do.

London 2012 gives Britain a tremendous chance to explore some of thesechanges and explain to the East what the modern West is about. One thing isfor certain: Hosting the Olympics is now a fantastic opportunity for anynation. My thoughts after the Beijing Games are that we shouldn't try toemulate the wonder of the opening ceremony. It was the spectacular to endall spectaculars and probably can never be bettered. We should instead dosomething different, drawing maybe on the ideals and spirit of the Olympicmovement. We should do it our way, like they did it theirs. And we shouldlearn from and respect each other. That is the way of the 21st century.

Mr. Blair, former prime minister of Great Britain, is teaching a course onfaith and globalization at the Yale Schools of Management and Divinity.

homecoming

so i arrived home a few days ago; i guess this is my last post. a few closing thoughts:

about the drum tower: i'm not sure why the man did it -- we heard he was mentally unstable and it was just bad timing for the americans. my chinese friend told me she thought maybe he was mentally handicapped and was manipulated into doing it by ''people who want to harm the olympics'' -- whether she meant tibetans, people from xinjiang, al-qaeda or what, i am not sure. the drum tower is about 5-10 minutes from our hotel so it was quite scary, but other than that we always felt very very safe.

and as for western media coverage, i am 100% disgusted. in my eyes, china is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't. if it has military and police protection of opening ceremonies, it is an authoritarian show of the power of the Communist Party dampening the spirit of the games. if it has less protection, it is irresponsible and begging for a terrorist attack. everything that happens in beijing (and even things that don't happen) is manipulated into a negative light and used to show how much china sucks. it pisses me off even more because i would read things online that directly contradict the experience that not only i had but that everyone i have met had. (such as teh economist's most recent article about the lack of foreigners having fun -- i've never met drunker, louder, happier australians, dutch, or polish people ever)

the only people i met who had negative things to say were the parents of a swimmer that i sat next to on the plane ride home. they were from a small town in virginia and were all around rather narrow minded about china/life. i pretty much brushed off what they said -- if you don't want to enjoy china, you can't enjoy china. (they also proceeded to get tanked in the back of the plane, argue with the steward about how much money they owed and then show me their son's gold medal, which was in the dad's backpack the whole time.) and therefore, if you sat around and complained about all the bad things and missed the architecture, the history, the food, the culture -- then its your own goddamned fault.


The thing about China is this: yes, its dirty, the people are rude as hell, the transportation is taking your life and your sanity into your hands and hoping for the best, its hot, its loud, its smoggy, and its poor. But that is what you signed up for -- if you wanted to have an American experience you should have fucking stayed in America. Because while it is all the things I've listed above, if you have even half opened your mind to other cultures, you can't avoid being completely and totally charmed.

For every rude person, you have 2 who are friendly and kind. (although they are all completely uncomprehending of personal space). They are warm and just, at the end of the day, want to get to know you. They may not have manners, but how many times did we/someone we know lose something (such as AJ's pants with 2100RMB in them) only to have it returned immediately and untouched? 2100 RMB is a month's living expenses. How many store owners remembered us after only one visit and gave us a special place to sit? If you got lost, it was most likely someone would tell you where to go -- months before the Olympics started. For every smoggy day, you had a day where the sky was blue and your jaw dropped at how beautiful the parks and architecture were. For every time you thought it was too big and too shabby, you either found something as charming as NLGX with its cafes and shops, or something as ritzy and glittery as Block 8 or Banana. For every time you had a shitty iced coffee, you had a meal so good (and so cheap) that you nearly passed out you were so full b/c you couldn't stop eating. For every hotel like the HuaKai, there is a Grand Hyatt. And, for every time something gross happened (or you smelled the Yu'er Hutong public bathroom), you remembered that you are in CHINA, which 30 years ago was self destructing in the midst of the Cultural Revolution and now is powering its way toward the 1st world.

So I'm sorry if you think that it is slightly uncivilized -- because it is. China is not the United States, it is not Great Britain, and it is not Europe. But if you thought it was going to be, that's your own fault. The ability to see what it was (the Hutongs themselves, the ladies selling heads of cabbage and baozi on the street) and where it is going (infrastructure like Oriental Plaza, the National Theater for Performing Arts, the Bird's Nest) allows you to see what it is: experiencing growing pains between old and new. Striving to be new and rich and allowed to play with the older kids, while somehow maintaining its own sense of self.

This is not an easy process, and its definitely not easy when you've got other people (US, UK, EU) breathing down your neck at every moment, pointing out your flaws, great and small. Add to that the fact that some of the media is flat out lying about you -- and how do you expect China to react? It is not my intention to excuse their behavior in certain situations -- but it is my intention to make the point that bullying and hypocrisy will get us nowhere, particularly in this situation. The quote of the boat driver to PJ O'Rourke has only been confirmed by my two months in China:

"We just want to be friends."

August 9, 2008: Shit Hits the Fan

Good god, what the fuck happened while I was asleep?

1) Russia invaded Georgia
2) John Edwards admits he had an affair

THEN, at noon, while we were shopping at the Yashow Clothing Market, I get this text from Kristyn:

"cnn is reporting that 2 americans were shot at the drum tower at noon b4 a guy jumped to his death"

So, while we were eating breakfast, a Chinese man stabbed (not shot) 3 people (two americans and a Chinese tour guide) and then jumped off the drum tower (5 minute walk from our hotel, we can see it out the window). Good lord. The American man died and the women are in critical condition.

THEN, Bernie Mac died! WTF?!

tonight we met Chris Tucker at Block 8 though, which was weird in itself. As Matt said to me, the world is going to hell in a basket.

August 8, 2008, 8pm: Opening Ceremonies

In Chinese class, we talked about things we will never forget and today was legitimately something I could never forget if I tried. But just in case, let me talk about it :)

We went to class in the morning and all I could think about was how big of a day it was. Kristyn said that in the morning she just sat straight up in bed and was like "its here!" I was the same way -- its like freaking Christmas morning. I bought a shirt that says 中国加油！ on it and wore it. Around 3pm we set off for the Bird's Nest, China's national stadium. The atmosphere in this city was ridiculous -- I don't think I can really put into words how excited everyone was -- it was literally impossible to walk five steps without hearing someone talking about the Olympics, someone wearing Olympic gear, or someone chanting "Zhongguo, Jiayou!" We got to the place we had staked out to sit (about 1/2 hour walk from the stadium)...and it was roped off. There were security guards EVERYWHERE and no one could get within view of the stadium. Nonetheless, there were hundreds of people there, just wanting to be around the Olympic hysteria. We decided to walk around and try and find another place to sit, but there was no hope. All the Chinese people around the area took pictures of the, well, white people in our group, and sold us "Zhongguo jiayou" headbands and Chinese national flags. We took some pictures and decided our best bet was to go to Wangfujing.

It took us an hour to get a cab. There were police everywhere, maybe every five feet, not to mention legit soldiers. We finally got to Wangfujing and it was pretty crowded. There were huge groups of Chinese people walking around, yelling "zhongguo, jiayou! Aoyun, jiayou! Beijing, jiayou!" or singing the national anthem and waving Chinese flags. But there were also a lot of foreigners -- Hungary, Poland, Mexico and Australia were particularly well represented. Anyway, we walked around and finally found the giant TV screen on which Opening Ceremonies was going to be shown. We sat down because we still had about an hour to go. The heat was, well, pretty typical and we drank some serious water. I'd estimate that there were about 200 people where we were sitting. Finally, with about 15 minutes to go, I stood up because my legs fell asleep. The ENTIRE street was full. Thousands of people had come while we were sitting down and couldn't see. I got chills. The jiayous had started again at this point and the sheer amount of people was unbelievable. KFC, which is on the second floor of the mall across from the screen has a full wall window. People were plastered to it from end to end. We cheered along with them for awhile.

Finally, we saw the screen turn from old footage of Hu Jintao meeting with foreign leaders (during which I'm pretty sure I heard people booing Putin) to live footage of the bird's nest. Everyone fucking went nuts, including us. We were screaming and jumping and jiayou-ing all over the place. It was amazing. They showed the inside of the bird's nest which had a countdown going on. Unfortunately, we didn't quite understand it was a countdown and thought it said "Go Go" instead of "60, 60". Therefore, when it got to "50, 50" Risa and I turned to each other and said "SO SO?!?!" and i thought "god they couldn't get a better translation for the fucking olympics?!" which really shows the translation quality in this country :) Anyway, We counted down from 10 and then all sorts of fireworks went off and it kind of hit me that this was the biggest moment in 1) recent Chinese history 2) some of these people's lives (at least as Chinese citizens). And I was there. Good lord it was amazing. I also just felt such happiness for the Chinese people that it was happening, that it was finally here. I think Kristyn's statement really sums it up: 'China! you DID it!! you DID it!'

The ceremony started with an enormous amount of drummers beating drums in the middle of the stadium. Their drums glowed, but then all the lights went off and just their sticks, glowing red in the darkness were visible. It was breathtaking, but a little scary. It was actually a good example of a lot of the ceremony: 15,000 performers took part and while it was an artistic triumph, I can't help but think that China might not understand that the rest of the world's main fear about them is that there are just SO. MANY. PEOPLE. and this performance did basically everything possible to remind everyone of that.

This beautiful little girl sang the national anthem, and everyone around us joined in, which was awesome. After that, there were many really cool dances and other sweet things (like people painting mountains by doing gymnastics or the people doing gongfu in a circle, protecting children learning in the middle). In the middle of the performance, the TV cut out to a commercial because their coverage messed up. Kristyn noted that at that moment, there was just a collective intake of breath -- what if something terrible had happened and they had to cut away from the ceremony. It was a moment of fear -- what if China's biggest fear actually just happened, though unlikely given the huge security precautions? But it didn't, and coverage came back. Big exhale. Then, the parade of nations started and we got to hear China's reaction to other countries. It was interesting also because the order was not alphabetical but rather by stroke order of the Chinese characters, and since we didn't know most of them, it was a surprise everytime a new country came out.

The Chinese cheered for everyone really, but if you were there supporting your country, and you cheered, they all got up, turned around, and cheered you. It was quite touching, really, they stood up and cheered for the Polish, Hungarians, Mexicans, and all the people at Wangfujing. Also, they cheered pretty loudly for Iraq, Russia and Iran. When Japan came out, some people cheered (about half as loud as usual) but then people started "shhhh!! shhh!!! anjing anjing (quiet!)" the others who were cheering. As the Japanese team rounded the track, "Zhongguo! Jiayou! Zhongguo Jiayou!" started louder than before. Really really interesting. The ladies sitting next to us asked where we were from (in Chinese) and I said "meiguo" so she said "when they come out you must cheer!" Well, we took THAT to heart.

After about an hour and a half of countries, the American team came out and we went completely insane. We were jumping and yelling and screaming U-S-A! U-S-A! and then started a "Meiguo! jiayou! Meiguo! Jiayou!" and everyone around us (all the Chinese people) joined in! Talk about hospitality. They were looking at us and waving and jumping for us. It was unbelievable. Then the camera showed George W. Bush. It got, and I am not exaggerating, significantly quieter. We got quieter. It was awkward. The camera went back and we went crazy again. It is interesting to me that his name is 'Bu shi.' which is the negation of the verb 'to be' (as in, to not be capable of much of anything, including eating pretzels). Anyway, we also noticed that the sheer amount of athletes on the American team took up an entire side of the stadium. The lady next to me said 'no wonder you win so many medals'

Then I was so dehydrated that I had to go home and we had to make our way out of the sea of people in Wangfujing. As we walked back down Nanluoguxiang to the hotel, I noticed that everyone, literally every establishment on our street had a TV and people were watching. It was like something you see in movies or in a textbook. We passed the laundromat and everyone who worked there was gathered around a TV in the back.

Finally, more fireworks went off and we were watching them out of the window in the 5th floor landing and out busts LaoLi, the owner of the hotel so that he could see them too. He was REALLY excited. We said "zhongguo jiayou!" to him and he answered "mianfei pijiu!" (free beer). We went out to the bar to hopefully see some Chinese people and see how excited they were but not too many were out. They had been encouraged to watch at home and it had been a really long day.

Now there's almost a feeling of "where do we go from here?" because 08/08/08 was what we had to look forward to. I am not super into the games themselves so Opening Ceremonies was the climax I guess. It was everything and more that we expected it to be, but I guess now its on to the medal count. :)

One World, One Dream

08.08.08

Well, its finally arrived. August 8th, 2008.

It is so exciting to be here right now; its as if the air is crackling with excitement and electricity. This city has been preparing for this day for seven years, but really China has been waiting for this kind of exposure for almost 30 years. We've seen a lot of preparations in the past month: the Fuwa, the "One World, One Dream" slogan everywhere, Beijing Huanying Ni cartoons, the ads at every single bus stop, the rain every night. We've seen more in the past few weeks: the dress rehearsal of the fireworks, the increased signs of "Beijing 2008", the old people with the "Beijing 2008" tshirts, the young volunteers with their badges wandering around in brightly colored shirts, and most prominently, the half-car odd/even rule. There are banners everywhere, the giant CCTV screen by 东四十条 are constantly playing the '中国加油‘ cheer, the tv screens on the bus showing the torch route.

But now, here it is. Its like we're standing on the edge of a huge hill, about to sled down. As if a huge force was pushing this city (or even this country) forward and we, a bunch of foreign college kids, got swept along for the ride. And now we've reached the jumping off point and the momentum pauses just for a second to reflect -- its the quiet before the storm I think. A good storm, don't get me wrong...but its just this slight calm with the underlying realization that tomorrow is the biggest day in recent Chinese history and that we're going to be there. That's just amazing.

dear SIR:

i've decided to write an angry letter to the economist. i'm sick of their portrayal of beijing lately: they called the people we see everywhere the following:
"The government-organised vigilantes in their baseball caps and “Good luck Beijing” T-shirts patrolling the streets in search of potential troublemakers might look like a throwback to a China of the distant past: an era when no one was safe from the prying eyes of neighbourhood spies."

uhm, seriously? because i'm pretty sure i saw a bunch of them watching old men play checkers this morning AND kristyn/steph/i saw them climb over the railing to the highway to get a better view of the bird's nest. vigilantes my ass. if they are vigilantes, i'm motherfucking batman.