Well, I'm relieved. Not only do i not need to wake up at 2.45am any more to watch any more football, I won't have to watch England be humiliated by the Germans. Thank you Italy! We went out with a small level of dignity. That would not have happened against Germany who would have cleaned us up. Anyway, now we can get all excited about the British Olympic Football Team. Maybe that team knows how to pass?
In other news, well there's not much other news really. Everything else in the newspapers has been in the newspaper for months-if not years-and therefore can hardly be called news. Just the repeat of previous events: economic crises, uprisings, and the failure to do anything to stem the dire state of the environment. On the latter, maybe there is some similarities with the England team. Everyone turns up, tries to keep expectations low, says the right thing, stays out of trouble (an improvement on the 90s...), works hard but is unable to work as a team or do anything exciting or ambitious. Oh well, we can wait another 10 years until Rio + 30 or something and the World will likely be in an even worse state than now and still we'll be doing little about it.
After two weeks of splendid blue skies in Beijing and pollution levels better than most European cities, the smog descended and survived the rainstorms to put a dampener on the three-day weekend we just had. Never mind, we still went swimming in a river and climbed the great wall. We also managed to survive my worst nightmare, though only just.
My worse nightmare is when there are two lanes of traffic: one going one way and one going the other. There is a blockage somewhere around the corner so there is a queue. Only one lane can go through at one time leaving one lane empty for a period as the cars wait their turn to get through. Because everyone here that drives is both selfish and impatient they don't want to wait in the queue so decide to overtake and try to push in to the queue further up before the oncoming traffic gets going again. And as one car decides to do this, so all the other cars behind decide too. And of course they cannot all squeeze into the tiny gap as the cars inch forward, and then they get stuck, and when the cars in the other lane have their turn to advance they cannot because their lane is blocked. And now everyone is screwed. The queue of queue dodgers gets longer and longer as more and more cars decide they want to jump the queue or just can't see around the corner to see what is happening and so follow the idiot in front. Three years ago, after a trip to the Great Wall such a nightmare occurred leaving us sitting on the grass beside the car for 4 solid hours. Eventually, that time, the cars drove off into the fields to create space for the other cars to squeeze by. On Saturday, fortunately, we managed to stop the line of queue jumpers from getting too long. So most of them could eventually squeeze into the queue to clear the way for the opposite lane to get through.
I hope that makes sense. It's a real nightmare. Trust me. And it quite nicely sums up one of the big issues in China which is, I joke, sometimes the polar opposite to the UK. In the UK, everyone is polite to everyone without even knowing them, but it takes an age to become someone's close and trusted friend. In China, everyone is rude to everyone without knowing them, but quite quickly become close and trusted friends. What this means is that once you know someone here, they are fantastic, friendly and kind. But until then they most likely will treat you like an enemy, competition, or a problem. This may sound harsh, but in public spaces, it is very much true. Of course it has it's benefits of course. After one lunch with someone, they'll be very nice and eager to help you. You just need to have that one lunch. And you can't really do that with everyone in China.
A well-known correspondent for the Guardian recently left China to report from South America. He wrote an excellent leaving piece (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/18/china-birth-of-superpower?CMP=twt_gu) that i highly recommend reading to get a good summary of where China is at now. It's somewhat depressing, but there is hope. There are more and more heroes in China. I'm sure there will be more in the future too. Things are changing - hopefully, they'll get better more than they get worse. But, no time for such depressing conversations. I've just finished a marathon few days of watching Downton Abbey. And the Christmas Special could cheer anyone up. What a closing scene. Cheesiness personified yet done so well it was not cheesy. Great stuff!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Great times at the Great Wall
9 days ago I took a day off from work to go to the Great Wall with Hannah and Andrea, who was due to give a presentation as part of Tedx Great Wall the following day. Along with many of the other speakers we went out to a small training centre at the foot of the Great Wall where we would stay the night and hold the event. As soon as we arrived we went up to the Great Wall - and I promptly realized I hadn't been for two years, which is really not good enough. Going there is something we always say we want to do at least three times a year. It's a great opportunity to get some fresh air and exercise, to marvel at the views and--of course--to contemplate the incredible feat. No matter how many times you go there, and which part you go to across the country, you can't be but impressed with the ambition of the vision and the actual implementation. Deciding to build a massive 5m wide wall that is solid stone up to 10m high on the very peak of the ridges of the mountains is just crazy. That it was actually done is fantastic.
The next day was full of presentations from speakers from around the World (though mostly westerners from Europe or the US living in Asia or who had come from their home countries). Some were very interesting and provided a breath of fresh air especially those that focused on creativity and seeing things from new perspectives. Andrea did a great job talking about women social entrepreneurs and took Hannah on stage for the first few minutes as a prop! That evening we went back up the wall with champagne and wine for sunset. Fantastic.
On the first night we'd sat Hannah down on a picnic table that was on one of the towers of the wall. We held her tight as she grabbed for a small plastic water bottle that was mostly empty that was in front of her. It fascinated her and then we realized she was sitting on her own for the few minutes she played with it, without needing our support. This was the first time she'd been able to support herself sitting up for more than a few seconds, and was quite exciting. Fast forward a week and we spent all weekend with her sitting up in the botanical gardens, in parks and in outdoor restaurants so she's now getting good. However we still need to be next to her to catch her when she falls--which she will at some point, and sometimes quite quickly when she loses attention. Babies have a very short attention span!
Yesterday the weather was so good it was off-the-scale. Today it is also good. I look out the window and the sky is a brilliant blue, i can hear bids chirping and i can see the mountains 30+km away. And it only measures 96 on the pollution index (the maximum is about 900). But yesterday, it measured 22. Simply unheard of and probably better air than london. The air tends to get cleaned up after some rain and wind, it's just a shame it rains so rarely!
Interestingly the air pollution issue was raised up the political agenda recently. A few years ago the US embassy started measuring some very small air pollution particles (called 2.5PM) and putting out the results hourly on twitter (which is blocked but many people can still access it, especially foreigners) - primarily for their own staff to know what the air quality is like and thus whether to go outside or not, play sport or not etc. At that time the government was not keen on reporting that data, instead only reporting data of larger particles (10PM) and not reporting the data very often (and in fact often reporting data from the outskirts of the city, not downtown). Since the US embassy started measuring and releasing its data, the government has had to bow to public pressure to do the same. It is actually a substantial change that has been brought about through such simple methods. Funnily enough last week the Chinese government got a bit crazy and started saying that what the US embassy was doing was breaking international conventions--and that the Chinese government has no interest in measuring US air quality. But it doesn't matter, the government has had to change its stance due to public pressure online.
In fact the Chinese government is, in some ways, almost more responsive to public pressure than a democratic government. In the UK, in theory you voice your opinion every few years at the ballot box, or you can sign an online petition. Here you cannot. But the government is so paranoid about any social unrest they actually respond very quickly in many case to nip any issues in the bud. And in fact, whereas in the UK, the government may well pander to the media, they still mostly only pander to the print media. In China, the print media only really says what the government wants it to (though sometimes is does question the government) and thus it is the online/social media space that more truly represents the people and is the space where people may align opinions, generate momentum and organize and is thus the main driver of the government responding to the public. And apart from very sensitive issues, often once something is "big" in the internet then the print media have more license to explore that issue too. What it means is that the government is often surprisingly responsive to the public in some areas!
And this is just one of the reasons why, despite social media changing the West too, in China it is just revolutionizing everything: the public discourse, government and corporate transparency, public opinion and all sorts. The social media are where stories break that the government may not want to break, but cannot always stop (sometimes it does stop news that it deems sensitive, which is a very broad term), and thus has to accept and respond to. Often it is food safety scares, or transport safety scares, or poor nutrition in rural children or .... the list goes on. Anyway, it has fundamentally changed Chinese society in the last 5 years. More than 300m people use something like twitter every day (half of them on a mobile phone) and several hundred more are using other forms of internet media/messaging. Yes, the government still controls it, but it's latest catchphrase is to "channel" or "guide" "public opinion" rather than control or censor. It's not doing a great job, but it's trying. It is what is radically altering the relationship between people, the state, businesses and the media.
Now, time to stop writing and to play with Hannah before going to work. The more time we spend with our friends with older kids the more i realize the need to treasure a small 5-month old that does not need to eat food, cannot run around, cannot scream and shout, cannot break anything... ah.. the things we have to look forward to!
The next day was full of presentations from speakers from around the World (though mostly westerners from Europe or the US living in Asia or who had come from their home countries). Some were very interesting and provided a breath of fresh air especially those that focused on creativity and seeing things from new perspectives. Andrea did a great job talking about women social entrepreneurs and took Hannah on stage for the first few minutes as a prop! That evening we went back up the wall with champagne and wine for sunset. Fantastic.
On the first night we'd sat Hannah down on a picnic table that was on one of the towers of the wall. We held her tight as she grabbed for a small plastic water bottle that was mostly empty that was in front of her. It fascinated her and then we realized she was sitting on her own for the few minutes she played with it, without needing our support. This was the first time she'd been able to support herself sitting up for more than a few seconds, and was quite exciting. Fast forward a week and we spent all weekend with her sitting up in the botanical gardens, in parks and in outdoor restaurants so she's now getting good. However we still need to be next to her to catch her when she falls--which she will at some point, and sometimes quite quickly when she loses attention. Babies have a very short attention span!
Yesterday the weather was so good it was off-the-scale. Today it is also good. I look out the window and the sky is a brilliant blue, i can hear bids chirping and i can see the mountains 30+km away. And it only measures 96 on the pollution index (the maximum is about 900). But yesterday, it measured 22. Simply unheard of and probably better air than london. The air tends to get cleaned up after some rain and wind, it's just a shame it rains so rarely!
Interestingly the air pollution issue was raised up the political agenda recently. A few years ago the US embassy started measuring some very small air pollution particles (called 2.5PM) and putting out the results hourly on twitter (which is blocked but many people can still access it, especially foreigners) - primarily for their own staff to know what the air quality is like and thus whether to go outside or not, play sport or not etc. At that time the government was not keen on reporting that data, instead only reporting data of larger particles (10PM) and not reporting the data very often (and in fact often reporting data from the outskirts of the city, not downtown). Since the US embassy started measuring and releasing its data, the government has had to bow to public pressure to do the same. It is actually a substantial change that has been brought about through such simple methods. Funnily enough last week the Chinese government got a bit crazy and started saying that what the US embassy was doing was breaking international conventions--and that the Chinese government has no interest in measuring US air quality. But it doesn't matter, the government has had to change its stance due to public pressure online.
In fact the Chinese government is, in some ways, almost more responsive to public pressure than a democratic government. In the UK, in theory you voice your opinion every few years at the ballot box, or you can sign an online petition. Here you cannot. But the government is so paranoid about any social unrest they actually respond very quickly in many case to nip any issues in the bud. And in fact, whereas in the UK, the government may well pander to the media, they still mostly only pander to the print media. In China, the print media only really says what the government wants it to (though sometimes is does question the government) and thus it is the online/social media space that more truly represents the people and is the space where people may align opinions, generate momentum and organize and is thus the main driver of the government responding to the public. And apart from very sensitive issues, often once something is "big" in the internet then the print media have more license to explore that issue too. What it means is that the government is often surprisingly responsive to the public in some areas!
And this is just one of the reasons why, despite social media changing the West too, in China it is just revolutionizing everything: the public discourse, government and corporate transparency, public opinion and all sorts. The social media are where stories break that the government may not want to break, but cannot always stop (sometimes it does stop news that it deems sensitive, which is a very broad term), and thus has to accept and respond to. Often it is food safety scares, or transport safety scares, or poor nutrition in rural children or .... the list goes on. Anyway, it has fundamentally changed Chinese society in the last 5 years. More than 300m people use something like twitter every day (half of them on a mobile phone) and several hundred more are using other forms of internet media/messaging. Yes, the government still controls it, but it's latest catchphrase is to "channel" or "guide" "public opinion" rather than control or censor. It's not doing a great job, but it's trying. It is what is radically altering the relationship between people, the state, businesses and the media.
Now, time to stop writing and to play with Hannah before going to work. The more time we spend with our friends with older kids the more i realize the need to treasure a small 5-month old that does not need to eat food, cannot run around, cannot scream and shout, cannot break anything... ah.. the things we have to look forward to!
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