Again, this week, I want to try to double dose the theme. On the surface, my photo collection will focus on a literal ‘forward’ – athletes in or on the brink of forward movement. But I also want to inject some forward thinking into this theme.
Female athletes get considerably less attention, funding, and credibility, not only in the ‘advanced’ West, but also, expectedly, in China. My collection comes from an organized sporting event at the high school where I taught a few years ago in Hunan, China. Most of the boys seemed to be kitted out in athletic uniforms, while most of the girls were wearing their own clothes. Yep, we know who is important here. I will give them their due here because they deserve it.
(I even insisted on participating in the shot put. Can you find me…?)
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It’s a bit strange in some ways though. Some children are trained from very early years to become winners. I wonder if there’s the same difference with those youngsters?
That’s a great question, and unfortunately, I can’t answer it. I did get the sense that some people get written off for one reason or another. I remember one physically disabled boy who seemed to feel there was no hope for him in life. I also remember a few students in the athletic world at that school who had enormous pressure to get into a very specific, top tier university for athletics. I remember talking again to one of those students following graduation, and he managed to get into another very decent university, but he had been berated by his teachers for not reaching the goal the teachers had placed upon him. The poor kid hated himself for his clear ‘failure’. It was disgusting.
I really don’t know how you cope with such things. You have to, of course, but what do you say to the kids in that situation? I guess nothing is helpful…
Ultimately, I have a choice. I can leave China if I want, right? (And I will eventually.) In some ways, I do think I’m insane to stay here. It can be stressful.
One thing I try to see as a positive in my being here – even though I feel like I am constantly in the middle of one brand of nonsense or another – is that the younger folks realize they can come to me for an ear or support. I mean, I’m downright radical compared to the Chinese, for sure, but I’m even liberal for a Westerner. I feel very privileged that kids have come to me and felt safe enough to tell me they are gay, trapped in an academic path they’ve been forced on, suicidal, depressed, afraid, against their government, etc. They can’t talk about any of that stuff here, even with most of their friends. They are heard – even if it’s only by one person. That much I can do
As for that specific example, I tell them I’m proud of them and I congratulate them. Does it make a difference? Maybe not. One compliment in a lifetime of pressure and punishment may not do much. In fact, I can completely imagine that what I say might be written off as something a dumb foreigner might say because they just don’t understand the system. I’ve had that before.
in those cases where you can be an ear and a comfort, someone to trust and confide in – you’re of immense value! that’s good to hear. I’m glad some people do trust and seek help…I wasn’t sure someone could believe what you say and know there is another system working. You are very important.
Thank you for saying that. It has been helpful having this conversation. It is really easy to feel ineffective in the official job portion of my stay here. It is not a system set up to benefit anyone, sadly. But outside what you’re paid to do can be a very different story
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Whenever I think you aren’t going to shock me with some new tidbit about China, you do: boys get athletic uniforms, girls have to wear their own clothes. Good lord!
I imagine that the number of girl babies who are drowned at birth in China must still be pretty high.
When you look back at your time in that crazy country you can be proud of so many small things you’ve managed to do – for example that your students felt “safe” to come share their deepest secrets and fears with you…
In the Dec 10 issue of the New Yorker there’s a five page review of a book called “Tombstone” by Yang Jisheng (about the tens of millions of Chinese who died during Mao’s “Great Leap Forward”.) Can you get hold of the New yorker?
A few of the girls had uniforms. One example – that one girl in the javelin photo had a uniform – she is a committed athlete, and known in the school as “Superwoman”. But the male superiority bias runs through everything.
Within 10 years (I’ve read), there will be upwards of 60 million missing females. One of the biggest reasons for this is actually abortions – and I’ll say, it is not abortion that’s the problem (I’m very pro-choice), it’s sexism. Finding out the sex of the baby is illegal in China, but it is cheap and easy to get the test done. And of course, when people find out it’s a girl, they terminate the pregnancy. Truly, if our home countries implemented a one child policy, I am not so sure ‘civilized’ Westerners wouldn’t do the exact same thing. Women aren’t equal anywhere.
It will actually be (already is) a huge crisis. In my opinion, not because there will be fewer breeders, as we don’t really need to be producing more people for this earth, but because of what is already happening, purportedly. I’ve read and heard about men sharing a woman, which I’m not opposed to provided everyone consents and no one is abused. Consenting polyamory, essentially. I’ve also heard that women are kidnapped from other villages and countries, as in some conservative, backward villages, no females were allowed to live. I won’t go to the trouble to find sources for this (maybe in a separate post), but honestly, I don’t put anything past humans and their ability to problem solve…
Man, I wish I’d taken photos of these creepy blown up portraits of naked male babies, legs splayed, penises front and centre, that were frequently sold on the sidewalks in shopping areas in the rural town I lived in. No naked female babies, vaginas exposed, ready to hang on the wall of your living room for admiration and worship. It was the creepiest thing ever. I’m still kicking myself for feeling too ‘culturally sensitive’ to photograph the scene.
I don’t subscribe to the New Yorker, but I’m able to read the first part of that review. Thanks for pointing that out! I should get my hands on that book. Horrific and fascinating time period that does NOT get talked about here. The province over from the one I was living in had to resort to cannibalism to survive being starved to death due to Mao’s policies. Poor people. Still so much fallout from that time. I wonder whether they will heal, and how long it will take…
somewhere in the article it says that bodies were found with holes in their legs or bums which the people blamed on dogs, but there were no dogs left. They’d been eaten.
pour souls… so many horrible aspects of this tragedy aside from the state people were reduced to.
One of the most interesting things about the non-subversive Chinese psyche (those who haven’t found the courage to speak out), is that they are patriots with a victim mentality with the exception of what has been done to them by their own government. That is the mark of Mao’s successful brainwashing program!
Incidentally, the other interesting side of this patriotic victim that is China is a complete and utter inability to take responsibility for wrong-doings done to foreign bodies (Tibet, Vietnam, nevermind the realm of cyber attacks and scams) or groups that have been demonized within the country (Falun Gong).
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Great take on the theme. Unfortunately when I think of China and the word ‘forward’, I can’t help thinking of ill fated ‘Great Leaps’.
Sadly, I do too. There is a lot that China doesn’t talk about, but the rest of the world does…
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