| Mr. Wang, Thank you for your tale and balanced perspective. We really don't know what happened here, and we'll probably never know the exact cause of the altercation. I am grateful for your journalistic integrity. This is why I enjoy your blog so much, actually. Anyway, in response to your question, I must reiterate on point mentioned by many of your other readers. This kind of mutual bigotry happens everywhere, not just in China. Cultural ignorance is a global phenomenon. As an American I can assure you that it exists in the states, too. It's just something open-minded (perhaps open-hearted) people will have to deal with now and into the future. That being said, I must actually take a partisan view on this particular issue, but not for the reasons you might expect. As an avid bicyclist, environmentalist, and advocate for pedestrian right-of-way, I am more inclined to side with the Chinese citizens who yelled at the American and his driver. We have different reasons for being angry, of course, but the object of our ire is mutual. There is a massive shift happening here in China, we all know that, and the growth of the automobile epitomizes this change. Though the crowd in front of Carrefour didn't realize it yet, what they are railing against is not foreign identity but foreign imperialism. The car has become an obvious and readily-available metaphor for this kind of forced, Euro-centric culture. There is simply no excuse for a wealthy, foreign, car-driver (though Ms. Daisy apparently wasn't even driving his own car!) to beat a local, under-privileged worker. Damage done to his material possessions is entirely beside the point. This whole scene smacks of upper-class elitism, not to mention extreme arrogance, and is the seed for continued cultural ignorance. What an ass! It's a good damn thing I wasn't there, Mr. Wang. I would have read that dude a riot act--and in my native English, mind you. If it had been on a U.S. public street, where bikers are far less tolerant, he would have gotten a chain upside his tail lights. Every human behind the wheel of a car should remember this: you don't own the road, and your beloved, gas-drunk car is not an extension of your body. Public space is public space. Maybe we foreigners have forgotten that fact. |
Fight Between Foreigners and Local