Tamsin Roberts

Simply because lots of people have been asking about my views on China, here is my conclusive rant - a warning: It is somewhat self-indulgent…

So, I am supposed to be coming up with insightful articles about China’s changes and Destructive Development. I am pleased to say that after this much needed break away, I don’t want to look back, dwell and moan a sorry for myself yarn about how I’ve been wronged – I want to re-structure and use every last second of effort I have put into the last 5 years of hard work to make success for Red T. How?
Ahhh…this is something I am slowly cultivating in the optimistic side of my brain. To Be Released

Instead of coming down on China in one massive ker-dunk of negativity, finger pointing and cultural un-P.C.-ness, I’m going to try and be rational, after all, it is still the birth place of Red T and we are H.Q.’d there. I also can’t afford to get into any trouble after the stir I caused with my future intentions remaining China specific. So I think it is possibly the best use of experience to provide some insight into a few particular cases which have brewed up and exploded or continue to brew. More of a fact presentation than sweeping statements, although there will definitely be some statements.

The main points I wanted to touch on here are the changing attitudes towards foreigners in China (specifically Beijing. Can’t talk China wide with ANY authority).

I am well aware that I am the foreigner and so my views are not equitable to those of the locals but one’s experience in China is now relevant both inside and outside for a multitude of reasons. There are thousands of non-Chinese living and working in China and thousands who have been doing so for a lot longer than me. Beijing to me was 100% my life, my home and everything I founded there, I thought of as my own. Of course things go wrong, like anywhere, but unlike anywhere, things become impossible to control. Not a new or even unexpected phenomenon but something I became less patient for over time. I’m not sure if this is down to the China effect or actual changing attitudes in China.
There was a time, in the early 2000nds, when I was sure that if you were lost and helpless, as a foreigner, on the streets of Beijing, that within 5 minutes someone would offer to help you. After the initial humiliation and feel-like-you’re-on-show-at-the-zoo type looks. Now, I’m not so sure. China is known for its each-to-their-own attitude, which is fair enough in a culture who is still living the after effects of ‘if you don’t take, you won’t get’. But in this pre-Olympic nervous frenzy of greed, ALL civility, humility and mutual respect has flug itself overboard to be replaced by deceit, empowerment and manipulation (oops: sweeping statement number 1). I see it everywhere, just one example is our ex-landlord’s approach to our demolition notice (‘it’ll never happen, they don’t have enough time, just get on with your work’) - so we stay up until the very end and he doesn’t have to refund our rent. LIES pushed us into corners we didn’t know existed. How are we supposed to work with no electricity or water? Response: <smile> (which is often the most insensitive expression of ; uncomfortable-don’t-know-how-to-answer-that).
We all know what happened to the gallery but at the same time, the landlord of my apartment – who I have never known to be deceitful or less than helpful, turned on me. I signed a 2 year contract PRECISELY so I wouldn’t have to deal with any Olympic inflation. As if turning on your tenants was new national policy, I get a call telling me to deal with the internet problem myself and that I was now illegally living in the flat as my registration certificate had expired. If I want a new one (and to not be fined 30,000 RMB – 2,000 GBP) I should agree to paying more on the ‘cheap’ rent. So I fly off the handle, hang up, deal with registering myself and leave the country. I’m nearly resigned to him being able to find some loophole, push me into a corner and demand more rent – as I have no rights and no power as a foreigner in China (sweeping statement number 2 or 3). So I will ignore him and hope he goes away.

Meanwhile, my great friend had her apartment sold from under her, while she holds a contract which expires in September 2009. Her original landlord was so money hungry he lied to the new buyer, saying she’d leave within a month of completion, which came as news to her. Another complete mess the poor new owners and my friend had to deal with. An obvious breach of contract but who can you call, what action can you take? Really, unless you have the staying power of beetroot in your favourite t-shirt, and a whole load of money and some serious Chinese support, there is no one to call and no help on offer.

So the conclusion I have come to is that for so long, China has been focusing on the short-term benefits of selling now, demolishing now, building now, and not focusing on the repercussions of these decisions. I can see this on all social levels; from the government and their approach to the precious art district to artists who go from art school to fame in a matter of years (generally by copying popular styles of painting), to landlords hoping to squeeze more cash out of their cornered tenants. Of course this is all part of development and China is so impressive in that sense. I believe it will take a wake up call but the frenzy of ‘now now now’ will settle and level out but when and at what cost? Sadly, all we can do is watch from the outside.
Now, am I blinded or does this happen everywhere? I KNOW I had a particularly harsh hand out of shite to deal with all at once, and I KNOW I still probably hold a bit of a grudge but is this sad change in attitude, (which is timely considering the world’s spotlight on China at the moment – unveiling not a whole lot of give, apologies or compromise) in reaction to the power trip China is feeling or is it life?

On the flip side - I am generally fairly quick to defend China in many circumstances. I am privileged to be in a situation that I can contend much of the bad press the Chinese are getting, from my own knowledge of the people and the place. And I am glad that there are probably more foreigners loving China than ever before. Just last week I was reading an article in the FT about a 27 year old woman from England who was living in Beijing working for Tesco. While, to be honest, I read it thinking, ‘what China are you living in’, I finished it realising that, if you are new to Beijing, on a nice package with an open mind, it is one of the most exciting places on earth. I have become the way-past-novelty cynic and I am so glad, I could see that in myself and get out. I don’t like who I was becoming – accusative and short tempered, always expecting the worst and utterly exhausted by it. China deserves to attract more bright-eyed new comers who appreciate it for its exotic difference and embrace its novelty but without mutual respect and a bit more honesty, they will leave, pissed off and exhausted.