I remember in the 1970s in China Steve FitzGerald, the first Australian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, telling me how much the Chinese loved Chinese-speaking foreigners, encouraged them to use and speak and sing, in Chinese, looking at us much "like performing bears", he said. Depending on the banquet, and how much drink had been drunk, Steve was more than happy to be that no performing bear. Not just a gifted speaker, but a talented tenor as well, he would belt out Chinese Opera ditties to the delight of his guests. They'd would fall about, doubled over in mirth and admiration.
My own turn as a performing bear came in 1995 in the city of Dalian. I'd organised a trade and investment Forum of Australian business people to visit this port city, hosted on the Chinese side by the then Mayor of Dalian, Bo Xilai (who came to a sticky end in his contest with the new President Xi Jinping in 2012). and on our side by me. I was giving the return banquet, in a rather beautiful mansion on the outskirts of the city, for some 300-odd Aussies and Chinese counterparts. I gave a speech, which I decided to do in Chinese. I'd worked in a joke, midway through, a pun, which only works in Chinese, but not sure if it would work or not. On the night, it killed, as they say. Chinese in the audience cracked up in laughter and then applause. Job done. Felt great.
And led directly to my marriage to J, as I'd met her there and introduced her to Bo, who she'd been trying to meet for a few days, and helped push along a deal she was working on. But that's another story....
A few years later, Bo Xilai visited Hong as then rising star, Commerce Minister, and invited me to a lunch with business luminaries in Hong Kong. Bo's speech mentioned me by name, as the foreigner who'd given a speech in Chinese and what's more had punned in Chinese! He also mentioned that on of the "joint ventures" to come out of that Forum back in '95 had been my marriage to one of the participants! All amazing, now I look back on it, but true. Again... another story.
But still, it's what comes quickly to mind when I read a recent article on the doings of Chinese-literate foreigners working on the Internet in China [here]. And I can't help but think, oh my goodness, if we'd had the Internet, I coulda had class, I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody....
I note that there's an element of insecurity in the Chinese reactions to these "Chinese-speaking foreigners". That they are buoyed by a foreigner learning Chinese, as a sign of respect. I've long thought: China can't take its place in the world as an equal partner until it gets over this inferiority complex. A complex that goes way back to the Opium Wars, for China the "hundred years of humiliation". They are still feeling that humiliation, and so enjoy seeing a kind of crypto-humiliation by foreigners, paying obeisance.
ADDED: "No more a victim: China must leave its past behind and embrace its strength". Zhou Bo writing from Tsing Hua University
