Happy 60th Birthday, China.

To all four of my blog readers, my apologies for not posting the past few weeks. Between the flood, trying to sort out apartment life and having to work on Sunday to make up for the eight-day holiday that starts on Oct 1, life’s been a little hectic. And to add the madness, China has decided to take internet censorship to the next level by blocking the use of proxies and VPNs (I don’t know what they are either. All I know is that I was using them to access already blocked sites... But now China’s gone and blocked those too). They’re really cracking down on us “revolutionaries” exposing life in China through Facebook, Twitter, blogs and youtube. I’m actually having to have a friend post my blog topics now, Thanks Jen. And in case you’re wondering I’m going on day six of no Facebook... That’s all I’m going to say.

Anyway, the reason behind all this censorship started with the riots in Western China, but the recent crack down is because of China’s 60th Anniversary. Yes, China is actually much older than 60, but it’s been 60 years since the Communist Party took control. Congratulations China Communism for making it this far. And to further congratulate themselves, a grandiose parade will take over the streets of Beijing October 1st. For those of you who thought the Beijing opening ceremonies was quite the spectacle, China’s outdone itself for the 60th anniversary parade.

I’ve been amused reading the news articles in both Chinese and foreign media about how China’s turned on their weather fans to make sure that it won’t rain, put the soldiers and parade participants through rigorous training (and mental health evaluations), ensured Beijing residents not “selected” to attend the parade keep from standing outside or on their balconies to watch the parade and, if you can believe it, restricted flight over the city, even from the pigeons. An article in the NY Times described the ridiculousness of it all pretty accurately ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/asia/29beijing.html?ref=global-home" http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/asia/29beijing.html?ref=global-home). This should give you a deeper insight to the Chinese mindset. And no, this article is not an exaggeration.

And the preparation for this demonstration of militaristic power and cultural appreciation has been going on for weeks. I was watching TV at Ellen’s house (my Chinese neighbor) when a special program came on about the parade. They were featuring some of the soldiers marching in the parade and part of their training program. I was shocked to see that the training for these puny, completely unintimidating Chinese guys was merely standing on a small platform balancing the equivalent of books for “a few hours.” Was this a joke? Their army “soldiers” were talking about the rigorous training of standing for a few hours balancing some junk on their heads? I’ve heard of fraternity hazing that makes this look like a kindergarden cake walk. And while this was being presented through Chinese media (which has motives other than giving unbiased, truthful news), I’m not so sure that if I was Chinese I’d be all that proud of men who are supposed to fighting for my country showing off their balancing abilities... But who am I to judge.

And while this may be the parade of a lifetime, the more sensible Chinese think that it is kind of over kill. Whether its been in articles (not from Chinese media, of course) or in conversations with coworkers (mostly just Cheryl), there are those who think the parade is unnecessary. Which was kind of a relief to me. If every Chinese person really thought that the prospect of pigeons with bombs strapped to their legs was a legitimate threat, I’d probably have to get out while I was still sane... Or relatively intelligent.

On the other hand, you have to give the commies credit. It's not that I am I saying that I agree with their system of government, but a country that can progress economically as rapidly as China, that can govern over a billion people relatively peacefully (minus the conflict in Tibet and XinJiang) and that has more and more of its population joining the middle class deserves a little credit. I would say more than a little, but since they took away my Facebook, Twitter and Blogspot they’re only getting a little credit from me. And while people have their opinions of China, its not the “red country” it used to be that was scary and inhibiting (only when it comes to the internet and social media). I know I’ve said it before, but most days I forget most of the governmental differences between this country and my own, except for... well you can probably guess what I’m going to say.

So as the National Day approaches I’m looking forward to seeing how this whole parade goes, how all those hours of standing with books on their heads paid off for the little Chinese soldiers in the parade and, most importantly, how the pigeons fair after being kept free from flight (You really need to read the NY Times article... The whole thing). And I will give a half nod to China for the progress they’ve made in 60 years. From poverty to prosperity, I hope the next 60 years continue to be ones of progress... And ones where people can enjoy their internet, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogspot and every other site freely.