Lijia Zhang's Blog, page 17
December 6, 2022
Divine Melody choir
On Sunday night, braving the chill, I attended a charity concert titled ‘Divine Melody Choir’, organized by Engage with China, an educational charity aimed at building up China literacy in the UK. Held at Holy Sepulchre Church, a stone’s throw from St. Pauls, the performers, led by conductor and soprano Wang Chen, delivered an outstanding show. The familiar melodies made me home sick. Of course, I
https://www.chopsticksclub.com/content/engage-china#:~:text=A%20programme%20to%20upskill%20all,be%20afforded%20in%20their%20lifetimes.
wouldn’t not miss the opportunity to see such a good show and show my support to ‘Engage with China’ – I am one of their cultural ambassadors. Run by two old friends H.J Colston and Teresea Booth, ‘Engage with China’ tries to upskill all British children on China’s past and present. Such an admirable course. Thank you for a memorable evening.
December 2, 2022
On Jiang Zemin
Conversation on Jiang Zemin
I had the honour to be a contributor to the Conversation on Jiang Zemin organized by ChinaFile and the Foreign Policy Magazine. Thrilled to be among such distinguished company!
Here’s the link.
https://www.chinafile.com/conversation/jiang-zemin-1926-2022
December 1, 2022
commenting on Covid protests in China
Last weekend, protests broke out in multiple cities across China against excessive lockdown measures.
I’ve been busy writing and commenting on this extraordinary development. Since 1989, there have been plenty of protests, typically farmers demanding proper compensation over grabbed land; workers demanding better pay. Occasionally there were protests against environmental issues. Such protests tend to be regional, instead of national; economical driven instead of political and usually in small scale. Mass protests like we’ve seen in more than a dozen cities against one issue and against the government were unprecedented.
On the morning of the 28th of November, I had an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition. BBC’s renowned journalist and presenter Laura Trevelyan heard me and requested to interview me on BBC World Service TV. In between, I was taken to Sky News’ office in Milbank for a panel discussion. My fellow panelists were Dominic Waghorn, Sky’s former China Correspondent and hugely famous political scientist Francis Fukuyama. I am pleased to say it also went well.
The next day, CBS came to my house for an interview. It took them over one hour to set up the lighting and a good half hour to interview me, but the final program was just a few minutes long. Well, I guess that’s just the nature of TV.
Here’s the CBS link.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/china-protests-echo-scenes-at-tiananmen-square/
November 28, 2022
NPR interview on the protests
“Rise up, rise up, those don’t want to be slaves!” Many of you are aware that anti-Covid/government protests have broken out in many cities in China. It is remarkable and extraordinary in an authoritarian country where public protests are banned. Here’s my interview with NPR’s Morning Edition, the equivalent of BBC’s Today program.
November 17, 2022
the shrinking role of China’s Public Intellectual
Long ago, I fantasized to become a public intellectual but I was dragged out of school at 16. Having long given up that dream, I still care about the public intellectuals and I am deeply concerned about their shrinking role in China. Here’s why.
November 8, 2022
Movie Return to Dust
Return To Dust
What a joy to watch a decent Chinese film, a rare joy! Time and again, I am disappointed in one Chinese film and then another. But not this one. Return to Dust is not one of those. It is a gem, a beauty and it is quietly powerful.
It is a heartbreaking tale of a couple in rural Gansu, set in the harsh landscape of the loess plateau in China’s northwest. The film opens when the couple, both having passed the bloom of their youth, starts to live together as husband and wife in a mud hut. But they are strangers. The marriage is conveniently arranged by their siblings who are keen to get rid of them. The Third Brother Iron Ma is the poorest man in the village with a donkey as his only possession and Guying has a disability – having trouble controlling her bladder, possibly the result of mistreatment by her brother and his wife.
Against all expectations, a tender bond slowly develops between them, which grows into deep love. At first, they hardly talk to each other and become chatty as they grow comfortable in each other’s company. There is no kissing or hardly any sign of physical intimacy. (save the time he gives her back a good rub when they soak themselves in the river to rid of dust.) Their way of showing affection is to press a wheat into each other’s hands and make a wheat-shaped flower print.
The rhyme of the film is slow, just like the pace of life in rural China, where people ‘rise when the sun is up and rest when the sun is down,’ but there’s never a dull moment.
The two leads delivered a stunning performance, especially Guiying, whose eyes convey so many emotions, resignation, anxiety and quiet strength. She is certainly no fool, despite her appearance. When she first sets her eyes on him, she sees him lovingly feeding corn to his donkey and she decides that he is a good man. And he is. He takes such good care of her that this invalid becomes the envy of women in the village.
I love the contrasts in the film, her frail frame vs her resilience; the beauty (the cinematography is stunning) vs the natural harsh environment and tenderness vs hardship.
Their love story is woven with broad social background with a relocation project going on as part of the poverty alleviation project.
The film also explores the theme of fate. At one point, whiling weeding, Guiying accidentally cuts a wheat sampling into half. Upset, she shows it to her husband. Iron Ma tells her not to worry, saying it will now be a fertilizer for other samplings. “It’s fate,” he says.
Before a tragedy strikes, she laments to her husband: “I am so lucky. Before when I was being mistreated, I never got ill; now I eat well and live well, I got sick.”
Being the poorest living in the bottom of the society, they are vulnerable with limited agency. The only thing they know is to work hard and together, they achieve plenty of success. Ultimately, they don’t have control over their fate.
In the last shot, the house, which the couple built with their blood and sweet, is being demolition, turning into dust in the big mouth of a bulldozer. He is going to move to a modern flat in the nearby town.
The film became very popular among the Chinese audience until it was banned, possibly because it does not present a flattering image of rural China. I think this is absolutely insane. As the West turns increasingly hostile towards China, this is exactly the sort of film the Chinese authorities should promote: a well-told story that people from outside China can relate to with hard-working and lovable characters like Iron and Guiying.
I went last night with a friend and both of us melted into tears. Do go to see it when you can.
November 4, 2022
an interview with Chartist
I had an interview with Chartist, Labour Party’s magazine – well, George Orwell used to write for the publication. It is about China’s rise and what should the West do. This is the first time I have been described as a ‘leading activist’. Interesting!
October 29, 2022
Party congress interviews
I had a busy day yesterday. At 2 pm, I had an interview with the BBC at the Broadcasting House in central London about the Party Congress, then I rushed back for Chicago Council on Global Affair’s Weekly World Review panel discussion and podcast, scheduled at 4 pm. But the taxi from the BBC’s broadcasting House to my house took so long. So I only had time for a pee before joining the Zoom. However, I couldn’t access my camera for some reason and we had no time to sort it out. So we went ahead. Those who watched it alive couldn’t see me, but the podcast works just fine.
I was flattered to be among the distinguished panelists: Ravi Agrawal, the Foreign Policy magazine’s editor in chief; Prashant Rao, a senior editor with Semafor. The program was presented by Ivo Daalder, the US’s former ambassador to Nato. We mostly talked about the Party Congress and Xi’s consolidation of power and a bit about Ukraine.
Live interview is a fickle thing where so many things can go wrong. I think I did alright there, if I do say so myself.
https://globalaffairs.org/commentary-and-analysis/videos/world-review-oct-28
My opinion piece on zero-Covid and citizens support for the government
Has China’s handling of Covid-19 increased the government’s popularity or decreased it? I find the question fascinating and confusing. Here’s my commentary piece exploring the theme, using the idea of social contract. Yesterday I wrote to my oped editor, asking to add the protests reported in Lhasa, Xingjiang and Zhengzhou, but the piece had just been published.
https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3197326/how-will-chinas-zero-covid-policy-affect-public-support-government-its-complicated.
October 22, 2022
Re-joining EU march
Once again, I found myself marching in central London. This time, it was for ‘rejoining EU’. I took part in all the major anti-Brexit marches before. Today’s was the first major one since 2019. Tens of thousands people turned up. In the warm sunshine, protesters sang, danced and chanted, while holding flags or placards bearing witty messages. My favourite is “I voted Romaine” (a type of lettuce) with an image of cabbage: remember the story of the Romaine lettuce outlived Liz Truss!? I loved the carnival atmosphere and the sense of togetherness. With this spirit, we can achieve anything, including re-joining EU!
