China in the 1960s - And Now

Jan Wong's Red China Blues contained various humorous depictions of China during the 1960s.

Such as:

"New China book store (新华书店), a Chinese Barnes & Noble, except it was a state monopoly with only one bestseller, the Selected Works of Mao Zedong. (毛泽东)."

Well, things have certainly come a long way since then.

"To prevent breakage and shoplifting, and to keep surly people fully employed, all goods, including books, soap and socks, were kept behind counters policed by nasty sales clerks."

The nasty sales clerks behind counters had a longer legacy. Those at the Beijing Friendship Store (北京友谊商店) lasted till the turn of the last century.

"Words like "please" and "thank you" had disappeared under decades of communist influence. If I said "please pass the soy sauce", I would get the same look if I curtsied to a bus driver in Montreal. "Thank you" was appropriate only for big favors, such as when someone saved your life."

With reform and opening up, the Chinese have become increasingly more polite, at least those in the service and hospitality industries. But I am sure some of my friends would disagree.

Wong also wrote that China Pictorial, an official publication then, "specialized in bumper harvests."

But these publications are now collectors' items!

"During the xenophobic period, the handful of marriages between Chinese and foreigners had to be personally approved by Premier Zhou Enlai (周恩来) himself."

So apart from the various accolades showered on the late premier, another to add to the list must surely be "matchmaker."

"Watermelon was so scarce you required a doctor's note to buy one."

Now, doctors can write anything you want them to write, so long as there are adequate monetary incentives.

Describing elevators and elevator-operators, Wong had this to say: "Special staff, sitting in chairs, stabbed the buttons, using rubber-tipped chopsticks so they wouldn't have to over-exert themselves."

"Most buildings have several elevators, I rarely saw more than one in use at a time. The Chinese believed that elevators needed regular rest periods, and that complete rest was the best .. most elevators shut down for the night at 10.30 pm. At the theatre, it was not uncommon to see people bolt before the final curtain to catch the last elevator home. A man who suffered a late-night heart attack had to wait until six in the morning, when the elevators reopened, to go to the hospital because his wife couldn't carry him down 17 flights of steps."

Some of these elevator operators existed even until as recently as a few years ago. They occupied a comfortable corner in the elevator, and get annoyed if too many people want to get into the elevator at the same time (quite forgetting that the operator had taken up at least the standing room of two persons). The operator usually had a tiny table and chair, and on the table are essentials such as books, tea cups and even a radio.

"Travelling through the Chinese countryside was an exercise in bladder control."

Even now! Unless you are the type that can answer the call of nature without a roof over your head.

"When I joked "luckily I'm type AB, I can take anybody's blood, but hardly anybody can use mine," that only confirmed to Fu the selfishness of the capitalist class."

"I memorized Chairman Mao's quotations such as "shit or get off the pot." People actually recited this pearl of wisdom to one another, which Mao had once barked at a meeting when he grew exasperated at colleagues who were all talk and no action."

This pearl of wisdom should be used more often at many existing work places.

"At lunch I had to hunt through my portion of cabbage to find the postage-sized scrap of pork fat, with the skin and coarse black hairs still attached. It was my daily protein, and after a while I even found it delicious."

"Our professors were supposed to be ideologically bankrupt. the more book learning they had, the more polluted their thinking. In contrast, we were pure. Our ignorance was a virtue. To ensure the textbook would have the correct revolutionary spin, we would show our draft not to our teachers but to the local peasants, the motherlode of political correctness."

As someone who is left-handed, Wong said she "attracted instant crowds", and that Chinese thought she was weird or retarded.

I am a lefty too, but in China, everyone seemed to think I am very intelligent, if not a genius.

Wong also noted that she was "rudely treated until people realized we weren't Chinese."

Again, this rudeness to people Chinese thought were Chinese persisted, even till now.

"On the good side, sexually transmitted disease were said to be so rare that in the 1970s, many young Chinese doctors had never seen an actual case of VD."

Finally, describing her path from Maoist fanatic to non-believer, Wong had to this say:

"Maoism suited the absoluteness of youth. I was so self-absorbed. I knew so little about human suffering ... To paraphrase Tennyson, 'tis better to have believed and lost than never to have believed at all. Those years taught me about who I am, and what kind of world I want to live in ... if I adhere to any creed today, it is a belief in human dignity and strength."