Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

Posters are appearing in Beijing with etiquette instructions designed to smooth Chinese-foreigner relations during the upcoming summer 2008 Olympics. The series of three posters are great Olympics propaganda, combining Taoist courtesy with humorous anecdote and undecipherable Chinese caution.

Smile When Communicating with Foreigners

1) A Smile is Beijing’s Best Business Card — A Smile is the Whole World’s Propriety
2) Eight things not to ask Foreign Guests about:

- income or expenses
- age
- love life or marriage
- health
- someone’s home or address
- personal experience
- religious beliefs or political views
- what someone does

3) General Rules for Etiquette with Foreigners

- One’s manners and bearing, and image should be graceful
- Be neither humble nor haughty, but at ease and self possessed
- Seek commonalities while reserving differences, have reason and integrity
- Adapt to others’ customs, respect ethical code
- Abide by agreements, adhere to promises
- Be enthusiastic in moderation, foreigners are different from Chinese
- Be appropriately modest, be affirmed in yourself
- Do not ask private questions, respect others’ customs
- Ladies first, be gentlemanly
- Seat honored guests on the right, and get along harmoniously

Instructions for walking

When men and women are walking together, men should generally walk on the outside, and the person carrying things should normally walk on the right. Men should help women carry things, but must not help women carry their handbags. When three people are walking side-by-side, elderly should walk in the middle. Where there are many cars around, men should walk on the side of the sidewalk closer to the street. When four people are walking together, it is best to walk two-by-two.

Etiquette for Interacting with Handicapped Athletes

1) You should use polite and standard forms of address for handicapped athletes.
2) Try to keep as light as you can with handicapped overtones.
3) Pay attention to how you congratulate handicapped athletes.

Pay attention to avoiding taboo subjects, quit using bad platitudes, and do not use insulting or discriminatory contemptuous or derogatory terms to address the disabled. Say things such as, “You are amazing,” or “You are really great.” When chatting with the visually impaired, do not say things like “It’s up ahead,” or “It’s over there.” When chatting with athletes who are paraplegic in their upper body, do not say things like “It’s behind you.”

The posters appear to be created with the intent of warning Chinese not to be accidentally rude to the millions of international guests that will be arriving for the Olympics. Beijing has issued similar edicts before, warning Chinese not to spit in public, for example; these are more of the same. Those making the posters out to be instructions to avoid discussing “politically sensitive” topics are probably reading too much into them.

Thank god Shanghaiist can bring some context to the following photo which has been circulating the internet the last week. They point to the Xinhua’s photospread which has appropriate captions:

Members of China’s armed police demonstrate a rapid deployment during an anti-terrorist drill held in Jinan, capital of east China’s Shandong Province July 2, 2008, roughly one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Yes, it’s a publicity stunt done by the police for a PR drill in light of the upcoming olympics. Note that the Segway devices are capable of 13 mph out of the gate, and ones used for anti-terrorist deployment are probably modified for a higher speed. 20mph is something that humans can’t sustain with all their gear for very long, so using Segways might not be such a bad idea!

The New Travel Weekly magazine has outraged Chinese by publishing so called “sexy disaster photos.” The magazine has been shut down by government officials in Chongqing until the situation is rectified, calling the photos an “extremely evil social influence.” You can find News thread containing the photos; the magazine’s Editor-in-chief, Editor, and Deputy Editor have all been fired. The photos came at the beginning of the first Chinese national period of mourning since Chairman Mao Zedong died in 1976, and after more than 65,000 (to date) have been officially reported dead after a deadly earthquake struck Sichuan.

As pictured above, the photos feature models made up with stylized blood, titled with the Chinese characters for disaster (灾难), and surrounded by rubble. Certainly, the are in poor taste, and offer nothing substantial to the ongoing crisis. One of the magazine employees, surnamed Cai, said to reporters: “If the outcome of the rectification is satisfactory, it is possible to reopen the magazine. After all, only part of the staff made the decision to print that shoot. It wouldn’t be fair to just close it for good.”

The infamous hate group known as the Westboro Baptist Church recently issued a press release titled “Thank God for the Great Killer Earthquake,” in which they thank God for killing Chinese:

Thank God for the Great Killer Earthquake that He sent to kill thousands of stiffhearted Chinese rebels against God. Our prayer is for many more earthquakes to kill many more thousands of impudent and ungrateful Chinese.

This is why American free speech sucks–it has to allow even vile hate speech such as the above. When 20,000 people die in a random act of nature, Americans everywhere should be sending aid, flying to China to help rebuild with their own hands, or raising support in the USA. Instead, we have handfuls of crackpots producing insane press releases in the name of American conservative Christianity. China, with its distaste for organized religion and hateful speech, would never allow an organization like the Westboro Baptist Church to prosper. To any Chinese that might read this, true Americans and Christians extend love and compassion to you.

For more constructive ways to assist China in its time of need, Shanghaiist has made a nice list of charities you can contribute to, such as the Red Cross.

The Onion probably has the most entertaining and reasonable look at the whole Tibet / China situation going on right now with Olympic Torch Used To Ignite Tibetan Protesters:

BEIJING—A universally recognized symbol of goodwill, the Olympic torch was used to immolate hundreds of Tibetan protesters during its journey across mainland China last week, in what is being called a stirring display of competitive spirit and Chinese nationalism.

Given all of the things in the mix–Tibetans rioting, the Chinese army shooting Tibetans, various protests, the Olympic torch-snuffing, heat from the Dali Lama, the Chinese government photoshopping photos–what needs to happen is for people to step back, calm down, and go about their normal lives. Here, and in Tibet and China. That way we’ll have a lot less political mess, death, and suffering in the eastern parts of the world.