What blanched, messy chaos caused by Xinjiang cotton. Was it bloody? China could have been the bigger nation, and offer proofs to convince the world that it has smeared the pure, gleaming white cotton. There is no need for the Boxers to repeat the same mistakes of Dowager Empress Cixi by battling the Eight-Nation Alliance and flopping.

The Powerful Nation wanted to come up with this really dope and badass slogan: “Xinjiang cotton is very soft, Chinese people are very hard. Suddenly, the ordinary citizens all hardened up and clamored along. Pity, those who had splurged money to support people who are now boycotting brands that use Xinjiang cotton are finally woken from their sweet dreams today. With a 180, they followed CCTV’s list and even contributed to the witch hunt to look for more targets to boycott.

According to Chinese logic, use China-made if you love your motherland. Even those who are using their iPhones to upload anti-American sentiments to their Weibo have been under siege. Why took the trouble back then to trample on other people’s freedom of consumption with your American sneakers?

These hard-boned Chinese people truly stand tall and upright. Whether the totalitarian regime that is so good at trampling on human rights will survive forever is no doubt a question of the nature of an epic poem.

Chinese people don’t fight Chinese people. Do those who support Xinjiang cotton dare to also support Xinjiang people’s freedom of religion, freedom of employment, and freedom of speech? They have the freedom to dance with the government, but the freedom to offer “groundless discussions and criticisms of the central government” is an enormous crime. If Xinjiang has been an inseparable part of China since the beginning of times, everyone is all one big family, yet they have no chance of knowing what happened in Xinjiang. Are there concentration camps? Just treat it as a mystery, a rumor. Hey, but the republic of the five ethnic groups? Xinjiang Uyghurs have been treated as an inferior group in China and guarded against like thieves. They know this social phenomenon very well. Look, don’t just love the cotton but not the people.

Conscientious companies aren’t boycotting sweatshop products because of simple conscience. Condemning African blood diamonds is more or less for the sake of brand reputation. Business is business. Can the tactic, though, be more civilized?

Auntie Hua Chunying really just wanted to poke her finger at that sore spot and air her dirty laundry. She said this incident reminded her of the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and then she recalled that this year is the 120th anniversary of the signing of the Boxer/Xinchou Treaty. We hear about wedding anniversaries, the gold, the silver, the diamond, often, as well as the anniversaries of the founding of the party. An anniversary for the signing of an unequal, shameful treaty? She made it sound like that was something wonderful to commemorate. If one is to go down memory lane, then one must “regard” history “squarely”. The Eight-Nation Alliance’s attack on the Qing Empire was set off by the Boxers who beat up, smashed, and looted foreign missionaries and churches. The local governors first tried to uproot the movement, which later became a performance show of crackdown, and eventually, the governments were supporting the rioters for not observing the rules of international civilization. Who knew Cixi was a fake, and the invincible spirits and demons weren’t invincible? Instead of risking backfire, why not jump on this public opinion wagon and make them my people. The result was chaotic and out of control. To save face, what other choice but a declaration of war against these eight nations. When the wolf warrior diplomacy flopped, it turned around to prosecute the Boxers. Too little, too late. Blame no one on the self-inflicted loss of power and humiliation of the country.

To suck up would only lead to bigger humiliation

But there is no more Dowager Empress today, then who’s our Cixi? For China, history is not a mirror but a constant reincarnation. The trouble is that when crossing the bridge of troubled water, one has forgotten to drink the Lethe water and Grandma Meng’s potion of forgone love.

It was surely a past worth remembering. Two Jiazi sexagenary cycles have passed us by, and we have moved from a monarchy to a republic. A different carcass, the same soul. It is the same governance today where blind patriotism and nationalism are instigated to divert the attention of the people. The state apparatus takes the lead in resisting “foreign products”, and the people stand up and follow immediately. Xenophobia is the best political achievement.

The Boxers within the Republic are more fierce, harder to deal with, and even more hypocritical than those in the Qing Empire. They burned opium, and now they burn sneakers. Do they even know what they are burning? Their mantra is nothing but repeated “you can’t eat Chinese rice but smash the Chinese pot.” This is the Chinese logic. Using your Xinjiang cotton in clothing and shoes is to provide you with foreign exchange. Cotton is not free. Investing in you helps to lower your unemployment rate. However, hard-bones state that “you buy my goods, you are feeding me; I buy your goods, I’m in debt to you. In short, in any transaction, you’re the master and I’m the slave.”

In the past, the Boxers did not know witch hunt. Today, even the spokespersons of foreign brands are not to slip through the cracks. Artists and celebrities are forced to take sides, and must go all-in or nothing. My motherland is so charming. I support Xinjiang cotton. Even if these kidnapped public figures boycott the goods as you ask, the Boxers still may not be happy. Suddenly, their minds are liberated again: these guys are but kneeling to beg for a bowl of rice. Nope, not eating this up.

So hard to serve, so hard to suck up to. There is only more humiliation. What a Catch 22. The hypocrisy is that this is also just a reflex action for them. Rounding up all these artists and celebrities is a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity for these spineless beings to conduct a public struggle session with public figures. For once, the ones who are normally bullied by the guards get to let it all out. How jolly and satisfying. Go ahead and pick on the soft targets – hard pass.

(Albert Leung, writer and lyricist)

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