Terracotta

Last Saturday (a week ago) we went to see the exhibition of China's Terracotta Army (well, 8 or so soldiers get to represent the 8,000 men strong army) at the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. In retrospect, even if we had pre-purchased tickets and didn't have to queue for very long to get in, we should not have picked a Saturday, as it took ages (an hour) to fight the crowds inside. The old military bunker (or shelter) underneath the regular museum where they've housed the exhibition is a great facility for such occasions (including disabled as well as pram access) but they could chosen a much better layout. All soldiers were facing to the right (I wonder if the Chinese have required that?) so even if there was space to walk on both sides of the glass boxes everyone (of course) wanted to walk on the right. There were information boards on both sides though, with different information, so there was a lot of zig-zagging and cutting "the queue"*. That said, I'm glad I went, especially since I doubt I will make it over to the real thing in China any time soon. Isolde happily slept through her first ever museum visit.













* I'm amazed how some people seem so oblivious to people around them. One example is when they walk up to an information poster and stand right in front of three other people, who out of courtesy to others have left some space in between them and the poster to allow more people to read at the same time.

New Career?

Unemployed or looking for a change? Prepared to relocate to China?

Chinese companies hire white (caucasians) people for walking around or sitting and pretending to do some work at a desk. Why? To have a foreigner associated with the company or attending a big event indicates that the company is successful and prestigious. The western world is considered rich and prosperous and if a company employs westerners it must mean that cash is plentiful and networks well-developed.

Advertisement from the company "Rent a Laowai" (Chinese for foreigner):

Now and then companies want a foreign face at meetings, conferences or at dinners and lunches. There are work opportunities for pretty women and men who look good in a suit.

This so-called "white guy window dressing" has provided new opportunities for unemployed actors and models from the west. Sometimes they are only needed for an hour, sometimes for a whole month. The requirements are few: 1) be white; 2) don't speak Chinese.

Show & Tell: The Dinner of My Dreams

Simone takes over Show & Tell for the month of November. She starts off in style with a very difficult topic! The Dinner of My Dreams - three guests, four with yourself. What is the seating plan, the menu, wine selection, table setting, etc.

Just when I was about to sit down and write this the show Simone got the idea from was on TV. What a coincidence!

I could answer my wedding dinner, because I dream about getting married. I could also write about a dinner with Peter and two kids around the table, the two (or three) kids I hope to have one day. But I really hope to have more than three guests at my wedding and neither my own kids nor Peter would really qualify as "guests". A dinner with friends would not be a dream dinner either since I meet them regularly anyway and I hope we will continue to do so until we're turn 100 at least.

So I will have to opt for guests that I would like to meet, but not just meet for meeting's sake but in order to try to influence them. With a month left (from tomorrow) before the start of the negotiations about a new climate change agreement in Copenhagen, getting an agreement that would be strong and effective enough to eventually stop climate change would be the topic of the day, the raison d'être for the dinner.

At the moment the international negotiations are heading for disaster. If not complete failure at least a very watered down agreement*. The last round of negotiations before Copenhagen, which took place in Barcelona over the last couple of days, didn't make much progress. And the EU-India Summit over in Delhi today wasn't a huge hit either.

Image from photobucket.com

So who are the key people I would need to convince that the planet is worth saving; that we don't have that much time; that even though we can't see climate change yet** and/or it's such a difficult thing to comprehend, it IS happening; that we cannot close our eyes and pretend it's not happening anymore, etcetera etcetera?

Yes, Obama, that's where we need to go. Forward. To the future. A green future. (Image from climaticoanalysis.org)

China's President Hu Jintao (image from thehindu.com)

I can't decide if Russia or Canada gets the third seat. At the moment Canada is hiding behind US but if I got the US onboard I'm sure Canada would come running. Russia is a problem in terms of hot air and is closer to some of the oil states that would be useful to have onboard too. India is another potential third guest but one which I don't think will be a real problem once China is game. I could also choose to have another climate advocate at the table, for example Australia or Japan, but they will make good extras instead.

So I think Russia would be my best shot.

Russia's President Medvedev (although Putin would probably be knocking on my door trying to take Medvedev's place) (image from rusecounion.ru)

The EU has taken most of the necessary decisions so the EU wouldn't really need to be at the table but could come and slip in some arguments while serving our food (first course). Besides, I represent the EU anyway. Australia and Japan would be cooking and come out and check on us once in a while. The "progressive developing countries", for example Brazil, Mexico or South Korea, could come and shout some encouraging words together with the main course. The G77 would accompany the dessert and the Maldives' President*** would serve the cheese. By the time the coffee comes we should have a deal!

What would we eat and drink? Only organic and/or fair trade produce of course. But I would also try to serve meat, fish and vegetables that may go extinct in a world with rising temperatures to make the point that this is something we may not enjoy in the future.

Let's hope we can stop the world from this scenario:




* In all likelihood there will be some sort of deal, but a weak one, or something like a statement or political intention, and next year will be full of further negotiations to seal the deal. This is an alternative that wouldn't be all bad but it would be even better if a deal could be reached in December 2009 already.
** We can really but not not in all parts of the world, and not in the countries which need to take the decisions, and not enough in other parts of the world for people to really understand.
*** Did you know that the Maldive government held a government meeting in the sea, fully dressed in diving suits to demonstrate to the world what sea level rise means for low lying states and/or the least developed states!

Image by/from Mohammed Seeneen/Associated Press

Democracy à la China

I read in (Swedish broadsheet) Svenska Dagbladet the other day that Chinese school kids are choosing class reps in free elections. Perhaps a good sign for the future, or not...

The article tells the story of some third graders who are choosing a class constabulary, a story that is the subject of a coming documentary "Please Vote for Me" looking at how free elections take place in an autocracy (presumably to be shown in the non-Chinese world). The election campaign is a tough one and seems to centre around pointing out the opponent's bad sides. "You don't have any self-confidence", says one eight-year-old and points out to the class that his opponent cried again recently. "You won't be able to control the class if you're that sensitive."

The Chinese director Chen says he wanted to do the documentary because he expected to see unrepressed, naive longing for freedom, but the third graders, pushed hard by their parents to win the attractive position, turn out to be shrewd political players. One father supports his candidate son by buying the class gifts and excursions and says to his son: "[Opponent] Cheng Cheng will probably say that you hit your classmates. Then you must say 'I have supervision over the class and if I'm not strict they will not obey me'".

The director argues that the Chinese one-child policy means that the children are always surrounded by adults and therefore very early on absorb the rules of the social game. And thus also those of the dictatorship. In this way children provide an interesting reflection of the adult world's values. According to Chen the school elections demonstrate how long the road to democracy in China is. "The dictatorship's values sit deep down in the Chinese society and free elctions are far from the same as when a country is governed by democratic ideas."

Who won the election? The little dictator Luo Lei with the bribing father. The bribes, the tough hand and the speech about the good leader who punishes his subjects seem to have been a hit with the classmates.