當年今日
關於我們

Difference between “showing one’s face” and “showing one’s eye” | Lui Yue

蘋果日報 2021/03/25 09:27


Before the Cultural Revolution broke out, a master in Chinese studies surnamed Bao was alive and kicking in the civil society in Beijing. Li Kuchan, a well-known professor of the School of Chinese Painting at the Central Academy Of Fine Arts, let his son Li Yan formally become an apprentice to Mr. Bao, which prompted a bunch of students of great ability to kowtow to Mr. Bao and become his disciples. The master once told his followers that the difference between “lu lian”(showing one’s face, which means showing off) and “xian yan”(showing one’s eye, which means losing one’s face) lied in a single character(word), which benefited them for life. The character is surely “lian”/“yan”. As for the character “yan”, master Bao had a fairly pungent footnote to it: “someone undressed dangling from a beam”.
The trip made by Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi to Alaska has been trumpeted by Chinese Communist Party(CCP)’s mouthpieces and propaganda machine as a diplomatic achievement accomplished by “lu lian”. Quite a number of soundbites have been extracted from the remarks made by Yang and Wang. On March 19, one of them - “the US isn’t qualified to speak to China from a position of strength; this is not the way to deal with Chinese people” – being put on two copy-based posters with typeface in white color against either a blue or red background was posted on People’ s Daily’s official page on Weibo. It became a template of first choice on Taobao without delay for factories that manufacture custom-made clothing. In places like Guangdong and Zhejiang, merchants put it on articles such as T-shirts, rucksacks, cell phone cases, umbrellas, lighters and water-proof stickers on cars, and have them shelved on Taobao’s platform. On Global Times’ website, a related report is complemented with a screenshot that shows a lighter made of fine copper with the soundbite carved into it, which is pretty dazzling. Even Michael Huang An, an artiste from Taiwan, left a comment, alleging he “has ordered one”. Beijing Daily reported that such commodities with “domineering Chinese pronouncements” on them would stir up a fashion trend of “custom-made for patriots”. Just imagine all the Chinese people on the streets with cookie-cutter soundbites on their clothes and sleek articles in hand, it is as least an upgraded version of what happened in the Gengzi Year 120 years ago.
What is beyond comprehension is “custom-made for patriots”. The soundbite is even found on wine bottles. Are Chinese people served with this wine? Shall we drink it? If it is touted to foreigners, they will also grumble: “this is not the way to deal with you”, but it is sold to me. They won’t drink it either.
The epic about China’s highest-ranking diplomats to “lu lian” begs for the media outlets in the West making the incident a lead story on front pages. The New York Times divulged a conversation between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping held right before CNY, in which the former told the latter that China’s narrative about the US going downhill is glaringly erroneous. At the G7 summit he took part on February 21 for the first time after he assumed office, Biden zeroed in on the challenge from China.
On the eve(February 25) of the Chinese Lantern Festival, the CCP went so far as to let He Bin, a secretary of Qilian county party committee in Haibei Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai, to release his “speech at the symposium on how the leading cadres of county level learn and carry through decisions made at the 5th Plenary Session of 19th CCP Committee” on Qilian News Network. It is this speech that laid bare the fact that “in the two speeches delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the 5th Plenary Session and the important remarks made by him at the symposiums for major leading cadres of provincial level, he made political judgements concerning the current international political terrain such as ‘the powerful West and the weak East’ being history, ‘rise of the East and decline of the West’ being the future”; “he made profoundly important judgements” concerning Sino-US strategic contest such as ‘the current global chaos stemming from the US’ and ‘the US being the major threat to the development of Russia and our country’”. Such a piece of news of paramount importance that should have hit the headlines of party-run media outlets was not released by People’s Daily or Qiu Shi (Seeking Truth) magazine, but a news network of county level. Actually, It should be deemed the last test given to the Biden administration. China hoped that Biden was going to rescind the tariffs levied by the Trump administration on China’s merchandise, release Meng Wanzhou, and reinstate everything in the Obama era. However, what Xi had been looking forward to came to naught. Ten days later, Xi made a conclusion – “The world is already at eye level for China” – at a joint meeting of committee members from the medicine and health, and educational sectors of the 4th Session of the 13th CPPCC(Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) National Committee.
No sooner had the Two Sessions of the CCP finished than US President Biden had the first meeting, dubbed Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, with the top leaders from of Japan, Australia and India. The information leaking out of the summit suggests that a framework is going to be established so that the four countries will be able to co-lead the post-pandemic restoration and the fight against China’s vaccine diplomacy, which is actually a thorough alliance aimed at containing China.

Indo-Pacific scenario after having “the world at eye level”

In the dialogue between the high-ranking officials from the US and China in Alaska, both Yang and Wang were just two “butcher’s knives” of Xi’s when “the world being at his eye level”. Wang’s wolf-warrior performance has been deeply rooted among the people already. Having been around in the political circles in the US for almost 40 years and being only able to murmur to himself in Hawaii in front of Mike Pompeo, dubbed “public enemy” by China, Yang presented himself like a totally different person in Anchorage, putting on a show that even Zhao Lijian was left far behind. It suggests beyond doubt that Deng Xiaoping’s notion - “those following the US get rich” - replaced with “rise of the East and decline of the West” and “timing and situation in favor of us” in the Xi Jinping era, which is invasive and expansionary, is bound to usher in instability for the Indo-Pacific region and the entire world.
When the conversation was going on in Alaska, two Canadian hostages came up for a secret trial in Beijing. As soon as the conversation ended, China welcomed Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Xi swapped pleasantries with Kim Jong-eun. Three days later, Xi appeared in Fujian making an on-the-spot investigation. Putting out a picture of Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan boating along the Jiuqu Stream(aka Nine-bend Stream) that snakes between the Wuyi Mountains, party-run media outlets CCTV and Xinhua News Agency captioned it with Mao Zedong’s poem: “Let the wind blow and waves beat, better far than idly strolling in courtyard.” On that very day the couple travelled around, the US, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for the Xinjiang issue. Beijing struck back in no time, and Xi declared unprecedented sanctions against European officials and institutions. Is Xi really able to drag the world back to the situation where only two camps are in rivalry with each other? Does it work only with Yang and Wang to “lu lian” on the international stage? The Central Military Commission announced there is no military parade arranged in this 100th founding anniversary of the CCP: “All officers and soldiers of the army will celebrate the centenary of the Party in combat positions to stand guard over the peace of the motherland and the people.” Is the “gun barrel”, CCP’s another strong suit, going to be brandished?
(Lui Yue, veteran Chinese journalist)
Click here for Chinese version
We invite you to join the conversation by submitting columns to our opinion section: [email protected]
Apple Daily reserves the right to refuse, abridge, alter or edit guest opinion columns for accuracy, length, clarity, and style, and the right to withdraw and withhold columns based on the discretion of our editorial page editors.
The opinions of the writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial board.
---------------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE
To download the latest version,
Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play