Over this weekend some of our teachers accompanied us on a trip to Dandong, China. The appeal of Dandong is that it is a city on the Yalu River, a river that makes up the border between China and North Korea. And despite the close relations between the two countries (China is North Korea's biggest trade partner and provides pretty much all the food in that country), it is hilarious to see that China plays up that juxtaposition of immense development on it's side of the bank against the drab buildings and bare land on the North Korean side. And just to top it off there is a rotating building shooting out a green laser-like light at night circling, not only Dandong, but also spilling across the border into North Korea.
Despite this, the appeal of Dandong is questionable. It is a developing city, much more so than Harbin, but it doesn't seem to have an aim in it's development like other large cities apart from pissing off the North Koreans as they wallow in their miserable poverty and help stoke the Chinese sense of superiority (which is really just a facade based on a weakening foundation of power projection).
As far as ethnic minorities in China go, it is a huge joke that they think they can convince foreigners that China is a multi-ethnic society. China's 55 other races (non-Han Chinese), are a shadow of their former selves and have been so assimilated into Han culture that it seems shameless to begin to mention them. Even Han Chinese say that Man Chinese, a race considered large in China (3rd largest) coming in at around 10.2 million people, are virtually indistinguishable from their Han counterparts.
My challenge for China is to stop hiding behind the facade of an ethnically diverse and harmonious society while also claiming that you are less racist than the US because you don't have minorities to discriminate against. Frankly, there seems to be a lot of 自相矛盾 (self contradiction) that becomes more and more obvious the longer that I am here.
Also, sorry about the recent lack in posting. October 1 is National Day in China and this year is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and I think that is rendering the proxies I use to get onto blogger and facebook useless. Hopefully in a week it should be better.
And enjoy some pictures of North Korea.
Despite this, the appeal of Dandong is questionable. It is a developing city, much more so than Harbin, but it doesn't seem to have an aim in it's development like other large cities apart from pissing off the North Koreans as they wallow in their miserable poverty and help stoke the Chinese sense of superiority (which is really just a facade based on a weakening foundation of power projection).
As far as ethnic minorities in China go, it is a huge joke that they think they can convince foreigners that China is a multi-ethnic society. China's 55 other races (non-Han Chinese), are a shadow of their former selves and have been so assimilated into Han culture that it seems shameless to begin to mention them. Even Han Chinese say that Man Chinese, a race considered large in China (3rd largest) coming in at around 10.2 million people, are virtually indistinguishable from their Han counterparts.
My challenge for China is to stop hiding behind the facade of an ethnically diverse and harmonious society while also claiming that you are less racist than the US because you don't have minorities to discriminate against. Frankly, there seems to be a lot of 自相矛盾 (self contradiction) that becomes more and more obvious the longer that I am here.
Also, sorry about the recent lack in posting. October 1 is National Day in China and this year is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and I think that is rendering the proxies I use to get onto blogger and facebook useless. Hopefully in a week it should be better.
And enjoy some pictures of North Korea.
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