Me Ol' China (week 14)

Let's start with Tibet. Since the Tibet has hit the news, all my friend ask me about is Tibet, how this regime shows us Tibet and what the perception in the street and in everyday's life. when I say that every day's life is not impacted the answer is the obvious "of course, it's a dictatorship". I said that I would not have written about politics and I am not going to start today, but I would like to point out one simple thing. The Western media continue saying that the Chinese TV is not mentioning Tibet, is not mentioning anything about the Olympic torch being constantly under attack and so on. BULLSHIT! I see on CCTV every single day the images of Paris and London and they even show the comments of Bush, Sarkozy, Merkel and Gordon Brown about the boycott of the opening of the games. on the Italian Corriere.it there is a telephone call of an Italian living in Shanghai saying that he doesn't know anything about what's happening in Tibet and he can only see it through the Western TV. Now, first of all, I am sure the guy spends more time running behind Chinese skirts that following politics or he cannot even speak or understand English, French, Spanish or Italian, as the TV have not been blanked and all shows about Tibet and the Torch are showing integrally. If the will of the Central Committee would have been to boycott the news, I am sure that they could have censored the TV and blocked the websites. Once again, I am afraid, but I see more propaganda in the West than over here. and I would be more worried about the Italian Northern League threatening to embrace the rifles if the government doesn't change the layout of the Election papers.

Saying that, let's go back to Me Ol' China.

What a week! So so so so busy over here... My Chinese is getting better and better and I can even afford not to remember some words :) I know enough words to forget others... It's so tough, boys! But it's so challenging. Why am I talking about that? I am not sure.. Let me go to take a look at what I was telling last week. Oh yes! The Silver Mountain of the Pagoda Forest. What a magical place! You will understand looking at the pictures that that place is special. It's north of Beijing and it can be reached by taxi or some bus service but I didn't even try this way. Booked a taxi and off we went, with a friend. When we arrived it started raining like hell! It was the best thing that could have happened! The rain got rid of all visitors and my friend Nicoleta and I managed to get some really nice pictures and enjoy the place in absolute silence and calm. it is amazing to express the feeling and sensations had in those moment, in that beautiful valley.

The climbing was very pleasant too and, as you an see, from the pictures, the views were getting nicer and nicer as we were going up. funny enough as soon as we left the valley to head on the top of the mountain, called in Chinese "The Middle of the Park", the sun came out.

A few people were coming down the mountain: families, couple and groups. The most surprising encounter, though, was an old man on the very top of the mountain. I was wondering if he reached the mountain by himself or he got old up there! I cannot even imagine myself at his age climbing so many stairs... Amazing!

On the way back down we stopped to a local restaurant and had a Turtle Hotpot. It was particularly nice and now the trip to the Galapagos will see another face: Nicoleta loved the turtle and barely left the head for me!

The weather has been changeable, we have seen four season this week but the constant is the sand. All over!

The main event, this week, I mean, the main event that has drawn my attention has been the Italian elections. Let me astray a bit from the real world and let's project to April 13, 2015. First Parliamentary election day in the People's Republic of China.

It has been 7 years plus since I came to China and during these years I have learned to love this country not only for my perceptions, a perception dictated by smiles and actions but also for the words and the expressions they use. 7 years ago I thought it would have taken very long to be able to communicate in Mandarin, now I am not only able to communicate but even to understand the subtle meaning of political saying and not saying. China has gone through many changes since I arrived. Sure, we do not experience anymore the 2 digit growth of the GDP but people are wealthier, happier and since 2013 can exercise their right to vote. The first elections were announced in 2010 and they were going to be just a partial opening to democracy. The local provinces would have been run by people chosen by the voters amongst a list of possible candidates being part of various lists. They were not parties as we intend in Europe, actually they seemed more like Berlusconi's parties than traditional ones. The main characteristics of those elections, however, was the presence of candidates never been enrolled in the Official Party and in the Provinces where autonomy and independence was a major issue, local candidates were elected. This contributed to the relaxation of political tensions, both internal and international ones. Many things have changed since those elections and the Central Government has toughen the penalties for those found guilty of mismanagement of the People's Things and those who abused of their powers and since the new governors and their governments took power, the cases of corruption of officials have been reported by both citizens and governments itself, unveiling a political situation that nobody would ever thought to come out. Two years later, china is on the way of normalisation and today I was reading this on a Chinese newspaper online:

13th April 2015 - 1.1 billion votes for democracy

What was once the most populous country in the world, from today is the biggest democracy in the world. China is queuing today to elect its representatives at the People congress.This follows the local elections held in all provinces and autonomous district in 2013. The country with more than 20 cities with over a million inhabitants, with so many ethnic groups that just by themselves are bigger than most countries in Europe, this morning has started woken up with something very new. According to some political candidates, this is the true revolution, the multi-cultural revolution as it has been defined by some Western observers. The UN observers sent all over the country are 10,000 and there are no doubts about the legitimacy of the results. China has gained, with time, the trust of the world and thanks to the successful Olympics in 2008 followed by effective actions in helping solve some major issues in South East Asia and the help shown during the years to bail out of trouble a few banks and financial institutions, now, China is no longer seen as a evil country that doesn't respect human rights and that keeps under chess mate the US and other countries. According to some polls, the picture of the outcome is very unclear. There is no longer a Chinese Communist Party running for the elections but there are 3 parties that derived from it and another 4 parties that are serious candidates to run this country for the next 2 years. It has been already agreed by the parts involved that a Constitutional Assembly will be created to modify the Constitution. The composition will see 10 members from each party represented in the newly formed Parliament and members from each province, included those parties that have a small representation. There are some parties that have declared their intention of boycotting the Assembly but they represent a minority.

It is still a mystery for us all about the new State, its Organs, the political organisation but what it's sure is that the name will be Federal Republic of China and that Taiwan has already agreed in entering the Federation and being considered a State within this newly formed Nation.

The constitution should be ready by the 2017, when new elections based on a Federal system will be held in each Republic or Territory and elect their representatives to the National Parliament.

The Federal form of government was agreed by all parties involved as the major solution to the cry for independence coming from the Western Provinces and to solve the long issue of Taiwan.

It has been told by more parts that this new China will help to easy the impasse between the two Koreas and help Burma to return to democracy after the riots in 2007 and 2012.

The US President, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has had a telephone conference, yesterday, with the Chairman Wu Chen Tao and conveyed the congratulations and best wishes of the American people. The EU Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, has hoped that China steps towards democracy would be painless and the fact that this day has been reached without any bloodshed shows how far China is from the days of the Cold War during last century.

Whatever the outcome will be, tomorrow, China, will be a new country of free people and the Chinese people will have a say in their political affairs. Ming Tian, tomorrow, Ming Tian, a bright day.

Back to reality...

Time to go to the gym. For the next month I will be travelling in Europe and I am not sure about the frequencies of updating of this blog. I will try my best!

Till then... Zai jian!