Author: davesgonechina

The Washington Post has an interesting article on Iraqi and other “immigrants” in China, particularly in Yiwu, Zhejiang. The thrust of the article, titled “Chasing the Chinese Dream”, is that “For a growing number of the world’s emigrants, China — not the United States — is the land where opportunities are endless, individual enterprise is rewarded and tolerance is universal.” The article then goes on to undermine this more or less completely towards the end by mentioning that these “immigrants” couldn’t even bury one of their dead in China, and only 700 foreigners have the equivalent of a green card.

Anyway, I was struck by this bit:

Over the past 20 years, the government has gradually allowed its own Muslim minority to rebuild institutions that were devastated by state-sponsored attacks on Islam during the Cultural Revolution. Islamic schools have opened, and scholars of Islam are being encouraged to go abroad to pursue their studies. Unlike Christians, China’s estimated 20 million Muslims are considered an ethnic minority, a status that confers certain protections and privileges.

OK… uh, China still confiscates passports to prevent Uyghurs from going on the Hajj, bans students, children and those employed by the government (which is alot of people in Xinjiang) from attending mosques, and all schools and imams are licensed and controlled by the state.

But even more wrong is the assertion that Muslim is “an ethnic minority” and the false comparison to Christianity. This is a misunderstanding that probably arose because one particular ethnic group associated with Islam, the Hui, are often called “Muslim Chinese”. While the Hui are historically defined by their religion, as an ethnic group, they are defined by heritage. You are Hui if your mom and/or dad was Hui. You cannot convert to Hui, though there are Chinese citizens who dig up any scrap of minority ancestry they can so they can miss out on the One Child Policy. Also, you are still Hui even if you don’t follow Islam, and many do just that.

The other problem with stating Muslim is “an ethnic minority” is that Muslims in China are found amongst various ethnic groups. Specifically, besides the Hui, there are the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Dongxiang, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Bonan and Tatars.

And then there’s the bizarre Case of the Hui Tibetan, and in fact the Muslim Tibetan as well. This distinction is based on the legend of a Muslim named Pir Jacob, who came from the West and was granted land to build a mosque by the Fifth Dalai Lama after he spotted Jacob through a telescope. The Hui Tibetans, on the other hand, were Muslims who came to Tibet from China Proper to the East. The two groups have moved closer together in recent history.

Poster from the Tuku Archive

The First Born was a stage play written in late 19th century San Francisco by Francis Powers. It was later made into a film in 1921. The New York Times described the story:

Even though most of the actors are Caucasian, with the exception of star Sessue Hayakawa, this tragic romantic drama tries to remain true to the spirit of the Orient (or at least what white folks assumed it was like). Loey Tsing, the first love of Chan Wang, is sold into slavery by her father. Although Chan marries another, he still loves Loey; only the birth of a son relieves his unhappiness. He adores little Chan Toy even though he finds nothing to like about his wife. Through his job running a lumber yard in San Francisco, Chan comes to the home of a wealthy Chinaman, Man Low Yek. It turns out that he is Loey Tsing’s master. When Man Low Yek sees the two together, he angrily swears revenge and invites Chan’s unfaithful wife up to the house. She brings Chan Toy, and the frightened little boy falls out a window. Chan finds him crumbled and dead and is overcome with grief. Through the use of his wiles, he causes the death of both Man Low Yek and his wife. Then he and Loey Tsing return home to China together.

In The Production and Consumption of Chinese Theater in Nineteenth Century California, Daphne Lei argues that the original production involved the “first Chinese actor to appear on the English speaking stage in the U.S.” According to scholar Lois Rather, Kim Poon, “a product of local schools”, played the friend of the title character. Unfortunately, at the time it was not clear if Kim Poon was the name of the actor or the character he played, and he did “not have any significant lines, except for some ‘laughter and Chinese exclamations’ like “Hi la, hi la”. It is ironic that the first Chinese actor on the English-speaking stage was a non-speaking character.”

The play was a huge hit, and toured New York and London. On October 6, 1897, a New York Times critic wrote:

The two scenic pictures, representing a street in Chinatown in the bustle of a noonday, and an alley at night with contiguous gambling houses and opium dens, are such as impress the spectator with a sense of reality… it, first of all, pictures the routine of life among the Mongolians of the Pacific coast, but it involves a simple, tragic story which is characteristic of the race, as we Westerners understand it… The music … is performed by a band of thirty-two musicians (some of them armed with Chinese instruments)… The pantomime is expressive and interesting, and all so strange that the spectator shivers a bit, though the sight of the steeple of a nearby Christian church rising above the joss-house is reassuring… The chatter is all in Chinese. There is some sort of trouble about a boycott of one Man Low Yek, ordered by the highbinders… A party of “white devils” is “slumming” in Chinatown that night. The spectator feels that he is one of the party, and enjoys special privileges.

The term “highbinder” is one with a murky origin. The American Heritage Dictionary lists its definition as a “corrupt politician” and a “A member of a Chinese-American secret society of paid assassins and blackmailers.” It lists the etymology as “After the Highbinders, a group of ruffians in New York City c. 1806.” By the late 19th century, it had become a term not only for Chinese gangsters, but for Chinese people in general:

Types of Highbinders, from The Wasp, 1901-02

Highbinder weapons circa 1900

The Linguistlist listserv had a thread about it, pointing out

It may be that the Chinese ‘highbinder’ has a discrete origin: thus Asbury _Barbary Coast_ (1933) 185: ‘The _boo how doy_, popularly known as hatchetmen or highbinders, received regular salaries, with extra pay for exceptional bravery in battle.’ Asbury discusses them at length in the succeeding pages but essays no further etymology. ‘Boo how doy’ literally, at least in his translation, means ‘fighting men’.

In 1886, Harpers Weekly had a whole article about highbinders (from the excellent HarpWeek archives):

When the Chinese began to flock to California in large numbers, attracted by gold mining and the promise of work on the overland railroad, they formed for mutual protection what are known as the Six Companies. These were fashioned on the principle of trade guilds. The men from Canton, for instance, formed one company, those from Hong-Kong another. The members paid regular dues, for which the society furnished them hospital care when sick, and guaranteed that their bones should be carefully transported to China in case of death. They were also to be aided in any difficulty with Chinese of other companies or with whites. The company rooms were the head-quarters for the members, where they could get the latest news from China. Outgrowths of these companies, but independent of them, are the Highbinders’ societies… Though known as Freemasons, the Highbinders are really banded together for black-mail and police purposes. If by any factor the confidence of a Highbinder is won, he will have no hesitation in acknowledging that he lives by black-mail…

The mother society among the Highbinders is the Chee Kung Tong, which occupies a substantial three-story building on Spofford Alley, in the heart of the Chinese Quarter of San Francisco… The influence of the head society is far-reaching, and it is doubtful whether its leaders would heed any order from a lesser source than the Chinese Consul. It is even said that the Consul’s order has sometimes been overruled, as there are men in the Chee Kung Tong who acknowledge no allegiance to China… The Highbinder is almost entirely beyond the pale of American law. His secret hiding-places defy the ingenuity of the police; he holds an oath in court in contempt; he can get a score of witnesses in his society to swear to anything which he desires; he has been the chief cause of the difficulty in the enforcement of the Restriction Act in San Francisco.

The Chee Kung Tong, or Zhigongtang (致公堂), was an anti-Manchu organization that would later give critical financial support to Sun Yatsen. While I believe it did have ties to the Heaven and Earth secret society, I seriously doubt it would’ve listened to the Qing Imperial Consul. I’d also point out the Restriction Act mentioned at the end – at this time, Chinese were denied citizenship and even had it taken away (the Chinese Exclusion Act wouldn’t be officially repealed until 1943). As a result of Chinese exclusion, communities had to build their own networks for language, housing, employment, medical care, etc.

Anyway, the play The First Born would appear in London in November of 1897. The New York Times was on hand again, and reported the Chinese ambassador witnessed the performance. It’s not clear who it was who attended the performance, but at the time the Chinese embassy to Britain included some prominent Chinese officials, such as Luo Fenglu and Chen Yifan (who in 1914 refused to sign the Simla Convention on Tibet). Another was Zhang Deyi, who, like Luo Fenglu, was from Fujian, and like Chen Yifan, was a graduate of the Tongwenguan. He accompanied the first fact-finding missions to Europe and America, and wrote about them in the books Strange Tales from across the Ocean 《航海述奇》、More Strange Tales 《再述奇》、and Eight Strange Tales 《八述奇》. Some of these were translated in Diary of a Chinese Diplomat, now out of print. I wonder if Zhang Deyi or his colleagues ever wrote about that play. It’d be fascinating to read their perspective.

From the difficult to navigate but very fascinating Tuku historical photo archive:

This six billion yuan banknote was issued in 1949 by the nominally Guomindang government of Xinjiang. Inflation was pretty bad. A few people on the Chinese ‘net seem to think this is the largest numerical banknote ever issued in the world, but I know their wrong because I own one of these from the last days of Yugoslavia:
After the Communists took over Xinjiang, alot of people weren’t using cash. They were the scrip issued by the Bingtuan, the military veterans who were mobilized in Xinjiang to develop agriculture (and secure the borders).

Watching the transition of power in China, October 1907:

THE CHANGES IN CHINA.

October 13, 1907, Sunday

Predictions have been freely made of late that the approaching abdication of the Dowager Empress would be the signal for internal commotions in China amounting to a revolution, and possibly the breaking apart of the empire through the effort of the Chinese race to unseat the ruling Manchus. For this reason, it is inferred, and indeed proclaimed by the highest authority, the throne is bent on dissolving the distinctions, superficial and fundamental, between the two races, and resolved upon liberal reforms that will modernize China. The imperial decree of October 1 declared that preparations should be made to give China a constitution. Secretary Taft, in his speech at Shanghai, spoke in warning of “radical and sudden reforms”, but he advocated a reform along lines of internal development, education, the enlargement of trade, and predicted that this would increase commerce and advance friendly relations with this country.

The gradual reform programme of the Dowager Empress and her advisors is China’s hope in the impending crisis. A sudden cleavage from the past would bring into powerful antagonism the adherents of traditional power and the more zealous forces of reform. There is no question that civil war is feared by the reigning family…

The fleet of the United States will remain in Pacific waters during the months preceding the abdication of the Dowager Empress, which is set for the Chinese New Year. Whether our warships are sent merely on a “practice cruise” or in view of complications with Japan, or because of coming events in China, it is certain that they will be in a position of advantage should anything happen to conflict with the American policy of the “open door”…

Our Secretary of War refused to speculate upon the probable action of the United States in case the interests of American merchants were placed in jeopardy, but he did say:

“It is clear that our merchants are being roused to the importance of the Chinese export trade and they would view with deep concern any and all political obstacles to its maintenance and expansion. This feeling is likely to find expression in the action of the American government.”

From Asia Times Online, today, Multinationals Fear US-China Trade Wars:

The US Congress is about to enact legislation that would levy punitive duties on Chinese goods. This could lead to unintended consequences for both American consumers and the wider US economy.

Some 119 leading multinational companies agree – including Boeing, Citigroup, General Motors, and Microsoft. They have called on Congress to reject protectionist legislation against China, arguing that “imposing unfair barriers to trade in the name of currency valuation or product safety is not a solution to the underlying concerns”. It was “a vote for free trade”, reported the state-owned China Daily, which, as so many other Chinese observers do, argues that rising protectionism among some US lawmakers “seriously threatens the interests of China, the United States itself and the world at large”.

Again, in October 1907:

A REFORMER IN CHINA.; Achievements of Yuan-Shih-Kai Attracting Wide Attention.

October 29, 1907, Tuesday

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28. — Another Li Hung-Chang has arisen in China and his achievements are attracting attention throughout the civilized world. He is Yuan-Shih-Kai, formerly Viceroy of Chih-li, now President of the Wei-Wu-Pu, or Board of Foreign Affairs at Peking. He assumed the reins of Government in Chih-li at a time when chaos and disorder prevailed in the province… During Mr. Yuan’s term as governor, Mr. Ragsdale [American Consul-General] says he established the best of relations with foreigners, and by sturdy honest efforts won the goodwill of the natives as well. His advice, even then, was sought by Peking, and the best edicts were the result of his suggestions. Notable among these were the promises of efforts toward Constitutional government, and those relating to the suppression of the opium traffic.

Yuan Shikai, six years later*, would dissolve the national assembly, and in 1915, declare himself emperor. Today, Will Hutton wonders if one of Hu Jintao’s successor will be China’s Gorbachev.

In the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev’s readiness to question communism was intertwined with his membership of the Soviet Union’s fifth generation of leaders. He did not champion perestroika and glasnost alone; much of the nomenklatura had decided that the Soviet economic and social model was dysfunctional, corrupt and endemically inefficient and had to change.

Will one of Hu Jintao’s two ‘Lis’, as the frontrunners to succeed him, Li Keqiang and Li Yuanchao, are popularly known, feel the same way as they walk out in front of the cameras in the Great Hall of the People on Friday? Will one prove to be China’s Gorbachev?

*In 1913, the New York Times also reported that Yuan Shikai’s brother was growing opium illegally.

Some child beggars are intentionally crippled by pimps to elicit sympathy [photo from PCPop]

Shanghaiist mentioned a couple of weeks back that the Chinese government was protesting a British documentary on Chinese child trafficking. Opposite End of China made a great catch a few months ago: an article in The Australian entitled Stolen ethnic minority kids victims of Chinese `Fagins’. Fagin refers to the leader of a gang of pickpockets in Oliver Twist, and for years, many Uyghur pickpockets and thieves have been pimped by adults much like Charles Dickens character. The article is entirely based a report from Hong Kong’s Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊), which also gave significant coverage to the Xiamen PX controversy in the lead up to major protests. The article (in Chinese) is available in full thanks to Li Mazi over at Douban. In The Australian’s summary, the government 4000 children are missing, while the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences says 90% of them are forcibly abducted or tricked from their homes. Phoenix Weekly is quick to point out far more than 4000 are likely missing, as many abductions would go unreported. Some parents actually sell their children to these bosses, not to mention these children are found in practically every major Chinese city. Money from these thieving rings is often sent back to villages in Xinjiang, among the poorest in the entire country, and local officials sometimes turn a blind eye. The Phoenix Weekly article describes two children, Anwar and Nurguli. Anwar, a 10 year old boy who had been a top student in primary school, was kidnapped from his home in Yecheng and taken all the way to Guangzhou to work as a pickpocket. Nurguli, a 12 year old girl, was sold to traffickers by her stepfather and repeatedly raped.

The Phoenix Weekly article is quite thorough and The Australian only gives passing mention to Chinese netizens actions, some of whom are “vigilantes regularly post photos of Uighur child thieves online, calling on the police to crack down on them. Others seek to help the children only to see them handed back to traffickers parading as relatives.”

The website Uyghur Online, a BBS forum, has a whole section devoted to aiding Uyghur street children. Phoenix Weekly quotes one founder stating they would like to turn the forum group into a function NGO, but it is difficult to get government approval. Nonetheless, an administrator named Ali, who claims to be a student at a Peoples Security Bureau University, posted a manifesto on several other sites declaring their desire to start a Xinjiang Uyghur Street Childrens Aid Association to act as a bridge between the PSB, the Xinjiang government and the children themselves, facilitating their return to some sort of family life.

Other articles of relevance: Uyghur blogger Qaghan points out the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which China is a party to, emphasizes the importance of family, but the relevant government departments tend to criticize families instead of assisting them. He also points out that hardly any Uyghur community organizations exist. The most likely reason for this, which he does not mention, is that greater restrictions are placed on Uyghur organizations due to fears of separatist activity. Qaghan also points to a study that found more than 85% of Uyghur street children come from rural areas, where unemployment is a major problem. This matches with my personal experience; in early 2003, I visited a friend living in a village near Hotan, which is mentioned in the Phoenix Weekly article as a common place where families receive a cut of the earnings their children make. The night arrived, he mentioned that recently a child trafficking ring had been caught in his community. He was deeply shocked and embarassed about it. You could count the phones in his town on one hand.

Two other articles point out that at least 150,000 street children, of any ethnicity, are known to exist. Moreover, 40% have ended up on the streets more than once, suggesting that simply sending the children home is ineffective.

One other personal anecdote: in 2004, I remember seeing heavily armed police officers patrolling Zhongshan road, where many crippled street children beg. An article at the time claimed the tear gas and automatic weapons were to discourage pickpockets. Needless to say, it didn’t work.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Below are excerpts from a 1911 book review of Joseph King Goodrich’s book “The Coming China”. I’ve sprinkled it with links to current events I consider similar:

CHINA’S ILL-TIMED STIR; The Ignorance of Her Vast Population Too Dense to Permit the Establishment of an Enduring Republican Government
November 12, 1911, Sunday
Section: Review of books, Page BR709, 1646 words

SURELY he would be a rash man who, in the present condition of affairs, should attempt to prophesy what the China of next year, or even of next week, will be. And therefore Joseph King Goodrich’s book on “The Coming China,” notwithstanding the apparent promise of its title, recommends itself the more because it attempts so little to predict definite outlines for the future path of the ancient empire. Almost the only matter of importance upon which its author ventures to be entirely sure about the future – his book seems to have been written in the early months of this present year – is that a republic is impossible in China at least for a long time. And already, at such daily accelerated and upsetting speed have events been moving, a republic is not only the hearts desire of the Young Chinaists but a highly probable outcome of the revolution.

Mr. Goodrich, who first went to China as a lad in 1866, has lived there many years and has also been a professor in the Japanese Imperial College at Kyoto, does not deny to the Chinese those traits of character necessary in a people before a real republic is possible. But he thinks the masses of ignorance in the huge population are too vast and too dense to be permeated, at least for a goodly while, by the enlightenment and understanding before an enduring form of republican government can be established. He admits that “There are now so many newspapers published in China, and facilities for sending them to every nook and corner of the realm are now so adequate, that the power which comes with knowledge has attained proportions that surprise Chinese leaders themselves and would amaze all foreigners who were accustomed to conditions a score of years ago.”

…The ten or twelve years following the war with Japan were years of steady though slow growth in modern ideas, but Mr. Goodrich counts the real birth of the new China from the close of the Russo-Japanese war of 1905. Since then the development of energy and ambition, of the desire for Western knowledge, and the purpose to apply Western methods to their own life has gone on with a speed more amazing, Mr. Goodrich declares, then is known even to those outsiders who have watched at a distance China’s progress. To the Occidental the successive manifestations of these seven-leagued strides that have “come up like thunder out of China”, have been bewildering, unexplainable, to a degree that makes them seem to border close upon the impossible.

…Mr. Goodrich does not believe that China can achieve a stable position among the great nations of the Earth until her populace shall have cast off the superstitions of their religion, for he declares most of them are still under the domination of polydemonism.

…Have the other nations, and, in particular, our own country, anything to fear from that coming China? he asks, and gives in reply a decided no. “If,” he says, “there are to be railways, inland navigation, post offices, factories, and all the concommitant of advanced life, the blessings must be paid for; the standards of living must be raised, so that the dreaded competition either disappears entirely or fades away into a dim future, when China has raised herself at home quite up to our standard.”