China series, Part 21: "The 3 T's"

[Prometheus]

In most work contracts a foreigner will sign with a Chinese  firm, there will be specific language stating that the foreign employee may not discuss (in or out of work), with any Chinese national, the "3 T's: Tibet, Taiwan, and Tiananmen Square 1989." There will also be some language to say that you shouldn't talk about any topic that might "do harm to national harmony" (or something to that effect. Basically, if there's a topic about China trending on western media, you should probably not talk about it, such as the goings on in Xinjiang.

There are also proscriptions against discussing religious topics unless discussed comparatively, but I think I'll just relate a few stories related to the 3 T's.

Taiwan

I forget what I was teaching at the time, but it was in a high school and I drew a rough outline of the shape of China on the board. Someone said, "You forgot the eggs!"

Quick note. If you've never noticed it before, China's shape is roughly that of a chicken.

So I quickly drew a little blob and said, "Hong Kong."

"But you forgot Taiwan!"

I quickly drew another blob but one of the students wanted to know why I didn't draw Taiwan and what I thought about Taiwan and blah blah blah. I quickly countered with, "None of the islands have anything to do with the point I'm trying to make, so can we just move on?"

We did... but it wasn't over. Later, I got a call from the boss wanting to know why I was discussing Taiwan in class. I told him what had happened and he said, "OK. Just don't draw any more maps. Keep one on the classroom computer that you can project if you need it."

I said, "OK" and asked if the student who had asked about Taiwan had been the one making the complaint. I told him that that particular student was always asking inappropriate questions about the 3 T's which I had managed to dodge thus far. That's when he told me that it was and that this kid's father was a hyper-nationalist CEO of an SOE and the 2 teachers that had taught at the school before me all had to be removed due to complaints from this student and his dad.

"Maybe you should have mentioned that earlier."

I didn't get fired or removed from the school but I severely limited my classroom interaction with that student and mostly ignored him when he tried to change topics to those that were forbidden. He hated that even more and then tried to make up a story about me saying something in class. Unfortunately for him, I had taken to making audio recordings of every class and played it for him, his father, the lead Chinese teacher, the school's headmaster, and my boss.

When it became obvious that the student was lying his father tried to have me fired for "illegally recording" the class. The headmaster pointed out that the classes all had cameras and were being recorded all the time and that the school contract that the father signed acknowledged that fact. Frankly, I think the headmaster was just as fed up with this guy as anyone at this point. Too bad she didn't take that sort of stand earlier and I never would have been in that position in the first place.

The father - unable to get satisfaction - withdrew the son from our study abroad program and from the school entirely and just like that the atmosphere in the classroom was 100% improved. Still, at the end of the school year, I asked the boss to move me to another school.

Tibet

About 10 years ago or so (maybe 11 or 12), I was teaching a VIP student at the company office during the winter holiday. Jessica, one of the office girls who spoke very good English, acting as my TA. Jessica was always sweet as pie, happy, and lively but one day she was just uncommunicative and scowling at me. I did the lesson and after the student left, I asked Jessica what was wrong. She let loose a tirade on me about Obama meeting with the Dalai Lama. She ranted for about 5 straight minutes. She was beet red and shaking by the time she was done.

Despite her having said some outrageously rude things, I kept as calm as I could and asked, "Do you think Obama calls me for advice on his meeting schedule?"

She unloaded on me again with some pretty racist shit and when she finished, I asked, "Would it be OK for me to blame you for all the things Hu Jintao says and does?"

"Of course not!"

I gave her an expectant look waiting for it to sink in, but after a minute or so I just left. Talking to Jessica had always been one of the bright parts of my routine, but that was all over. Once she realized that I wasn't to blame for Obama's meeting schedule she tried apologizing but whatever respect I had had for her once was gone. I was cordial with her after that but we were no longer friends and after I recounted the tale to some of the other teachers over a few drinks they said they had similar encounters with other Chinese people during the same week, it was obvious that we probably were never really friends with any of those people in the first place.

Tiananmen

There is (or at least was) a group in China called the "6 4 Mothers": mothers of the people killed on June 4, 1989. Every year on the anniversary they'd try to make some sort of statement but they'd always get shut down. Supposedly, in 2009 (IIRC), they tried taking out a full page ad in the People's Daily newspaper and it was accepted. They were shocked that the ad made the paper. So was the government.

It seems that the young woman in her mid-20's who was in charge of selling ad space had no idea who they were and no idea what the significance of the date was as the events of that spring had been completely wiped away. It wasn't even used as a cautionary tale. It simply didn't happen. The poor girl didn't know what the ad was about. All she knew was that they were paying and her job was to take money and send the copy to the printers, but she got fired nonetheless and was sent for re-education. I'm not sure how they re-educated her about something she was never educated about in the first place. In fact, everyone who let the ad get printed got fired and sent to "school."

Apocryphal? Possibly but it rings true enough to me based on my observations over the years.

On a personal note, I visited Beijing for the first time as a tourist in 2011 or '12. My gf (at the time) and I had set aside the whole day just to do Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. We got to the square around 9:00-ish and were walking around and taking pictures but my spidey-sense was tingling. I told her I was thirsty and wanted to sit down for a few minutes. We grabbed a couple bottles of water from a vendor in the square and sat down on a bench.

I kept chitchatting with her but I was scanning and watching. Once I had it all straight in my head, I told her to look at the couple of foreigners who were also in the square. I told her to notice three specific Chinese people "tourists" who were standing near, but not too near the foreigners. When the foreigners moved, the 3 Chinese people moved.

Then I told my girlfriend to look at 3 other Chinese people who were standing near us. I told her to stay on the bench and I got up and started walking. I got about 20 feet and turned around so quick and started walking back to her that I nearly bumped into one of the 3. I walked over to the vendor, bought 3 more bottles of water and gave one to each of the 3 and said, "Zouba!" ("Let's go!") and started walking towards the street to cross over to the Forbidden City. When we turned around to look for our new "friends," they were standing huddled together, bottles of water in hand and arguing with each other and gesticulating in our general direction.

My girlfriend asked how I knew they were following us. I told her that since the square wasn't very crowded on a weekday morning, people moving in the same pattern as us was easy to spot. I'm pretty sure we were followed around inside the Forbidden City (at least for a while), but it was more crowded in there and tails were too hard for me to spot with certainty.

She never questioned why we were being followed, only how I knew who the followers were.

Anyway, those are just a few stories that should give you an idea of how those three topics impact the life of a foreigner in China.

[cheers[

[abbey1227]

Feb 23, 2022 13:37:35 GMT Prometheus said:

In most work contracts a foreigner will sign with a Chinese  firm, there will be specific language stating that the foreign employee may not discuss (in or out of work), with any Chinese national, the "3 T's: Tibet, Taiwan, and Tiananmen Square 1989." There will also be some language to say that you shouldn't talk about any topic that might "do harm to national harmony" (or something to that effect. Basically, if there's a topic about China trending on western media, you should probably not talk about it, such as the goings on in Xinjiang.

There are also proscriptions against discussing religious topics unless discussed comparatively, but I think I'll just relate a few stories related to the 3 T's.

Taiwan

I forget what I was teaching at the time, but it was in a high school and I drew a rough outline of the shape of China on the board. Someone said, "You forgot the eggs!"

Quick note. If you've never noticed it before, China's shape is roughly that of a chicken.

So I quickly drew a little blob and said, "Hong Kong."

"But you forgot Taiwan!"

I quickly drew another blob but one of the students wanted to know why I didn't draw Taiwan and what I thought about Taiwan and blah blah blah. I quickly countered with, "None of the islands have anything to do with the point I'm trying to make, so can we just move on?"

We did... but it wasn't over. Later, I got a call from the boss wanting to know why I was discussing Taiwan in class. I told him what had happened and he said, "OK. Just don't draw any more maps. Keep one on the classroom computer that you can project if you need it."

I said, "OK" and asked if the student who had asked about Taiwan had been the one making the complaint. I told him that that particular student was always asking inappropriate questions about the 3 T's which I had managed to dodge thus far. That's when he told me that it was and that this kid's father was a hyper-nationalist CEO of an SOE and the 2 teachers that had taught at the school before me all had to be removed due to complaints from this student and his dad.

"Maybe you should have mentioned that earlier."

I didn't get fired or removed from the school but I severely limited my classroom interaction with that student and mostly ignored him when he tried to change topics to those that were forbidden. He hated that even more and then tried to make up a story about me saying something in class. Unfortunately for him, I had taken to making audio recordings of every class and played it for him, his father, the lead Chinese teacher, the school's headmaster, and my boss.

When it became obvious that the student was lying his father tried to have me fired for "illegally recording" the class. The headmaster pointed out that the classes all had cameras and were being recorded all the time and that the school contract that the father signed acknowledged that fact. Frankly, I think the headmaster was just as fed up with this guy as anyone at this point. Too bad she didn't take that sort of stand earlier and I never would have been in that position in the first place.

The father - unable to get satisfaction - withdrew the son from our study abroad program and from the school entirely and just like that the atmosphere in the classroom was 100% improved. Still, at the end of the school year, I asked the boss to move me to another school.

Tibet

About 10 years ago or so (maybe 11 or 12), I was teaching a VIP student at the company office during the winter holiday. Jessica, one of the office girls who spoke very good English, acting as my TA. Jessica was always sweet as pie, happy, and lively but one day she was just uncommunicative and scowling at me. I did the lesson and after the student left, I asked Jessica what was wrong. She let loose a tirade on me about Obama meeting with the Dalai Lama. She ranted for about 5 straight minutes. She was beet red and shaking by the time she was done.

Despite her having said some outrageously rude things, I kept as calm as I could and asked, "Do you think Obama calls me for advice on his meeting schedule?"

She unloaded on me again with some pretty racist shit and when she finished, I asked, "Would it be OK for me to blame you for all the things Hu Jintao says and does?"

"Of course not!"

I gave her an expectant look waiting for it to sink in, but after a minute or so I just left. Talking to Jessica had always been one of the bright parts of my routine, but that was all over. Once she realized that I wasn't to blame for Obama's meeting schedule she tried apologizing but whatever respect I had had for her once was gone. I was cordial with her after that but we were no longer friends and after I recounted the tale to some of the other teachers over a few drinks they said they had similar encounters with other Chinese people during the same week, it was obvious that we probably were never really friends with any of those people in the first place.

Tiananmen

There is (or at least was) a group in China called the "6 4 Mothers": mothers of the people killed on June 4, 1989. Every year on the anniversary they'd try to make some sort of statement but they'd always get shut down. Supposedly, in 2009 (IIRC), they tried taking out a full page ad in the People's Daily newspaper and it was accepted. They were shocked that the ad made the paper. So was the government.

It seems that the young woman in her mid-20's who was in charge of selling ad space had no idea who they were and no idea what the significance of the date was as the events of that spring had been completely wiped away. It wasn't even used as a cautionary tale. It simply didn't happen. The poor girl didn't know what the ad was about. All she knew was that they were paying and her job was to take money and send the copy to the printers, but she got fired nonetheless and was sent for re-education. I'm not sure how they re-educated her about something she was never educated about in the first place. In fact, everyone who let the ad get printed got fired and sent to "school."

Apocryphal? Possibly but it rings true enough to me based on my observations over the years.

On a personal note, I visited Beijing for the first time as a tourist in 2011 or '12. My gf (at the time) and I had set aside the whole day just to do Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. We got to the square around 9:00-ish and were walking around and taking pictures but my spidey-sense was tingling. I told her I was thirsty and wanted to sit down for a few minutes. We grabbed a couple bottles of water from a vendor in the square and sat down on a bench.

I kept chitchatting with her but I was scanning and watching. Once I had it all straight in my head, I told her to look at the couple of foreigners who were also in the square. I told her to notice three specific Chinese people "tourists" who were standing near, but not too near the foreigners. When the foreigners moved, the 3 Chinese people moved.

Then I told my girlfriend to look at 3 other Chinese people who were standing near us. I told her to stay on the bench and I got up and started walking. I got about 20 feet and turned around so quick and started walking back to her that I nearly bumped into one of the 3. I walked over to the vendor, bought 3 more bottles of water and gave one to each of the 3 and said, "Zouba!" ("Let's go!") and started walking towards the street to cross over to the Forbidden City. When we turned around to look for our new "friends," they were standing huddled together, bottles of water in hand and arguing with each other and gesticulating in our general direction.

My girlfriend asked how I knew they were following us. I told her that since the square wasn't very crowded on a weekday morning, people moving in the same pattern as us was easy to spot. I'm pretty sure we were followed around inside the Forbidden City (at least for a while), but it was more crowded in there and tails were too hard for me to spot with certainty.

She never questioned why we were being followed, only how I knew who the followers were.

Anyway, those are just a few stories that should give you an idea of how those three topics impact the life of a foreigner in China.

[cheers[

after giving this post another read........ I have a question.

What do you think of the notion of the modern day Map of the World?

As in, shouldn't everyone agree where the lines are by now? Or how does the UN and other international business get done with so much disagreement?

How can of these things continue on in their current state?

[Prometheus]

Oct 9, 2022 13:18:45 GMT abbey1227 said:

Feb 23, 2022 13:37:35 GMT Prometheus said:

In most work contracts a foreigner will sign with a Chinese  firm, there will be specific language stating that the foreign employee may not discuss (in or out of work), with any Chinese national, the "3 T's: Tibet, Taiwan, and Tiananmen Square 1989." There will also be some language to say that you shouldn't talk about any topic that might "do harm to national harmony" (or something to that effect. Basically, if there's a topic about China trending on western media, you should probably not talk about it, such as the goings on in Xinjiang.

There are also proscriptions against discussing religious topics unless discussed comparatively, but I think I'll just relate a few stories related to the 3 T's.

Taiwan

I forget what I was teaching at the time, but it was in a high school and I drew a rough outline of the shape of China on the board. Someone said, "You forgot the eggs!"

Quick note. If you've never noticed it before, China's shape is roughly that of a chicken.

So I quickly drew a little blob and said, "Hong Kong."

"But you forgot Taiwan!"

I quickly drew another blob but one of the students wanted to know why I didn't draw Taiwan and what I thought about Taiwan and blah blah blah. I quickly countered with, "None of the islands have anything to do with the point I'm trying to make, so can we just move on?"

We did... but it wasn't over. Later, I got a call from the boss wanting to know why I was discussing Taiwan in class. I told him what had happened and he said, "OK. Just don't draw any more maps. Keep one on the classroom computer that you can project if you need it."

I said, "OK" and asked if the student who had asked about Taiwan had been the one making the complaint. I told him that that particular student was always asking inappropriate questions about the 3 T's which I had managed to dodge thus far. That's when he told me that it was and that this kid's father was a hyper-nationalist CEO of an SOE and the 2 teachers that had taught at the school before me all had to be removed due to complaints from this student and his dad.

"Maybe you should have mentioned that earlier."

I didn't get fired or removed from the school but I severely limited my classroom interaction with that student and mostly ignored him when he tried to change topics to those that were forbidden. He hated that even more and then tried to make up a story about me saying something in class. Unfortunately for him, I had taken to making audio recordings of every class and played it for him, his father, the lead Chinese teacher, the school's headmaster, and my boss.

When it became obvious that the student was lying his father tried to have me fired for "illegally recording" the class. The headmaster pointed out that the classes all had cameras and were being recorded all the time and that the school contract that the father signed acknowledged that fact. Frankly, I think the headmaster was just as fed up with this guy as anyone at this point. Too bad she didn't take that sort of stand earlier and I never would have been in that position in the first place.

The father - unable to get satisfaction - withdrew the son from our study abroad program and from the school entirely and just like that the atmosphere in the classroom was 100% improved. Still, at the end of the school year, I asked the boss to move me to another school.

Tibet

About 10 years ago or so (maybe 11 or 12), I was teaching a VIP student at the company office during the winter holiday. Jessica, one of the office girls who spoke very good English, acting as my TA. Jessica was always sweet as pie, happy, and lively but one day she was just uncommunicative and scowling at me. I did the lesson and after the student left, I asked Jessica what was wrong. She let loose a tirade on me about Obama meeting with the Dalai Lama. She ranted for about 5 straight minutes. She was beet red and shaking by the time she was done.

Despite her having said some outrageously rude things, I kept as calm as I could and asked, "Do you think Obama calls me for advice on his meeting schedule?"

She unloaded on me again with some pretty racist shit and when she finished, I asked, "Would it be OK for me to blame you for all the things Hu Jintao says and does?"

"Of course not!"

I gave her an expectant look waiting for it to sink in, but after a minute or so I just left. Talking to Jessica had always been one of the bright parts of my routine, but that was all over. Once she realized that I wasn't to blame for Obama's meeting schedule she tried apologizing but whatever respect I had had for her once was gone. I was cordial with her after that but we were no longer friends and after I recounted the tale to some of the other teachers over a few drinks they said they had similar encounters with other Chinese people during the same week, it was obvious that we probably were never really friends with any of those people in the first place.

Tiananmen

There is (or at least was) a group in China called the "6 4 Mothers": mothers of the people killed on June 4, 1989. Every year on the anniversary they'd try to make some sort of statement but they'd always get shut down. Supposedly, in 2009 (IIRC), they tried taking out a full page ad in the People's Daily newspaper and it was accepted. They were shocked that the ad made the paper. So was the government.

It seems that the young woman in her mid-20's who was in charge of selling ad space had no idea who they were and no idea what the significance of the date was as the events of that spring had been completely wiped away. It wasn't even used as a cautionary tale. It simply didn't happen. The poor girl didn't know what the ad was about. All she knew was that they were paying and her job was to take money and send the copy to the printers, but she got fired nonetheless and was sent for re-education. I'm not sure how they re-educated her about something she was never educated about in the first place. In fact, everyone who let the ad get printed got fired and sent to "school."

Apocryphal? Possibly but it rings true enough to me based on my observations over the years.

On a personal note, I visited Beijing for the first time as a tourist in 2011 or '12. My gf (at the time) and I had set aside the whole day just to do Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. We got to the square around 9:00-ish and were walking around and taking pictures but my spidey-sense was tingling. I told her I was thirsty and wanted to sit down for a few minutes. We grabbed a couple bottles of water from a vendor in the square and sat down on a bench.

I kept chitchatting with her but I was scanning and watching. Once I had it all straight in my head, I told her to look at the couple of foreigners who were also in the square. I told her to notice three specific Chinese people "tourists" who were standing near, but not too near the foreigners. When the foreigners moved, the 3 Chinese people moved.

Then I told my girlfriend to look at 3 other Chinese people who were standing near us. I told her to stay on the bench and I got up and started walking. I got about 20 feet and turned around so quick and started walking back to her that I nearly bumped into one of the 3. I walked over to the vendor, bought 3 more bottles of water and gave one to each of the 3 and said, "Zouba!" ("Let's go!") and started walking towards the street to cross over to the Forbidden City. When we turned around to look for our new "friends," they were standing huddled together, bottles of water in hand and arguing with each other and gesticulating in our general direction.

My girlfriend asked how I knew they were following us. I told her that since the square wasn't very crowded on a weekday morning, people moving in the same pattern as us was easy to spot. I'm pretty sure we were followed around inside the Forbidden City (at least for a while), but it was more crowded in there and tails were too hard for me to spot with certainty.

She never questioned why we were being followed, only how I knew who the followers were.

Anyway, those are just a few stories that should give you an idea of how those three topics impact the life of a foreigner in China.

[cheers[

after giving this post another read........ I have a question.

What do you think of the notion of the modern day Map of the World?

As in, shouldn't everyone agree where the lines are by now? Or how does the UN and other international business get done with so much disagreement?

How can of these things continue on in their current state?

Borders are being redrawn by this country or that country all the time. It's arguably one of the major sources of international irritation and causes of war.

Should the Palestinians just accept what the Israelis have taken from them?

Should Israel cease to exist?

Bangladesh?

Pakistan/India?

Ethiopia/Eritrea?

Who gets to choose what gets watched on TV on Thursday nights or someone has to use the TV in the other room?

[abbey1227]

Oct 10, 2022 1:49:49 GMT Prometheus said:

Borders are being redrawn by this country or that country all the time. It's arguably one of the major sources of international irritation and causes of war.

Should the Palestinians just accept what the Israelis have taken from them?

Should Israel cease to exist?

Bangladesh?

Pakistan/India?

Ethiopia/Eritrea?

Who gets to choose what gets watched on TV on Thursday nights or someone has to use the TV in the other room?

yep, all the way round               unfortunately