recently and I 'happened to read about how Tiziano Terzani, the great Italian traveler-journalist, was expelled from China in 1984. This story gave rise to a book of the same Terzani, "the forbidden door." History and 'interesting, if only because' demonstrates the enormous changes have taken place in China since 1984.
Terzani, a man who has known from several Asian countries, the study 'the Chinese in the sixties in the United States. Like so much of youth 'West became fascinated by the myth of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. However, just because of the closure of China to foreigners determined by Mao government, had to wait for the death of the "great helmsman" and the advent of Deng Xiaoping to try living in China. Terzani arrival 'in Beijing in 1980 with his family, building on its Chinese name, Deng Tiannuo. His goal was to live as a Chinese, to be able to understand this mysterious society 'from the inside. The company was not 'at all easy,' cause every time contact one of the few foreigners living in China and the Chinese was carefully regulated.
Terzani wanted to live in a normal house of China, but was' compelled to reside in the diplomatic quarter in which all foreigners were forced to live at the time. The doors of the neighborhood were constantly monitored by police, and every input and output was recorded.
Wanted 'to have dealings with the Chinese, but it proves to be' difficult, because of the suspicion and fear of the authorities'. An elderly Chinese who had met a few times a day Terzani let him know someone else who did not want to 'see,' cause the police had asked him to draw up a report every time I met him, and in these conditions the man preferred not to attend it.
short, his claim of wanting to learn from China was not easy, but gradually Terzani was able 'to break through this wall of suspicion and prohibitions that divided the foreigners by the Chinese, to enter the "forbidden door" for the 'indeed. Journey 'for all China, the most 'can only be, I send' their children to a Chinese school, ran a bicycle as the Chinese. Eventually he was 'arrested by the authorities' with the trumped-up charges of having stolen national treasures, and that maybe true of vilification against the government. The authorities 'the rehabilitation for a month as a Chinese, giving them the opportunity' to personally meet another side of China that was rarely seen by outsiders. At the end Terzani was' expelled from China. What more
'strikes me reading this story and' how far from reality 'of a foreigner living in China today. I personally think I'm one of those foreigners living in China who is interested in Chinese culture, and try not to stay always among foreigners, but to know the Chinese and their reality 'as much' as possible from the inside. Nowadays almost all the prohibitions against foreigners which she experienced Terzani disappeared. Foreigners in Beijing can reside wherever they want, where they like to travel alone (with the exception of Tibet, where you 'have to go in a group), and cultivate friendships with the Chinese (and marry with them) without attracting the suspicion of Authorities'. Foreigners in China who want it (and I am not at all want it) are free to try to penetrate into the reality 'of China as much' as possible. As long as 'no one is engaged in religious proselytizing, not to mention political activism, and is' free to do more 'or less what' you want.
Having said that, 'certain rules which somehow remain divided foreigners by the Chinese. Take for example the universities' Chinese, an environment I know well. Foreign students and Chinese live in separate dormitories, and those for foreign quality 'much higher than for the Chinese. In my campus, the students divide Chinese accommodations for six people (the students), four (for those who make a master) or double (for students). Many are forced to go to another building suitable for showering, and pay for hot water and if they do (for this reason, many do not go to shower every day). Their dorms are sprovisti kitchens, which forces them to eat in the canteen they like it or not. Foreign students living in rooms instead of double or single, have a bathroom in every room and a kitchen on each floor, television and air conditioning (of which the Chinese have to do without during the hot summer Pekingese). I realize that if you compel foreign students to live in the living conditions of the Chinese, few would be able to resist for long. Having said that, 'this discrimination in our favor, however, puts us in a reality' is very different from theirs.
Foreign students who do the degree course in China (and today there are some) should not participate in the political classes mandatory for all Chinese students in spite of their matter, which studies the doctrine of the Chinese government. It 'must participate in the kind of paramilitary training in involving all the Chinese students the summer before starting university', with a military uniform (to teach the Framework). In short, a foreign student at a university 'China will not make' never the same experience of a Chinese student, as far as we can prove.
Even today, a foreigner in China can not 'even feel real "mass", but still remains a foreigner, as seen and how he lives. Aquisito Chinese citizenship and then 'a mission impossible. I think it would be simplistic to give the responsibility 'to the system only Chinese politics. After all, in other Far Eastern countries the situation is not 'very different. Perhaps it is simply that the companies' in this part of the world are not companies' multicultural, and are historically more 'homogeneous and closed the Western (even though China has many different ethnic groups within it). Furthermore, the fact remains that the vast majority of Chinese have almost never had to deal with foreigners, and that is why in relationships with foreigners are showing a kind of naivete 'which is sometimes almost funny. I am 'still smiling when the Chinese are surprised to see that I'm able to eat with chopsticks, despite the fact that it is a very easy thing to Faulty all foreigners in China soon learn.
However I am pleased to see that usually foreigners in China are welcomed with sympathy and curiosity 'from the common people, but almost never with hostility' preconceptions. In fact, I usually find that the Chinese are much more 'polite and ready to lend a hand with foreigners than with other Chinese. The situation does not change in the countryside and small towns where a foreigner can 'cause still looks surprised and dismayed at the move, and where any foreigner will hear' the word "laowai" ("foreigner" in popular parlance) whispered to her to pass.
However, nowadays there is no 'more' that wall of prohibitions and hostility 'of government which he experienced Terzani, who prohibiting foreigners to experience Chinese life from the inside. Now the real wall to overcome and 'one of their own prejudices, cultural differences and misunderstandings that may make it more' complicated relations between Chinese and foreigners. For the few Westerners who have the desire, humility 'and the patience necessary fields to break this "forbidden door, and the reward' to be able to understand from within a society 'and a culture that really are different from ours in several ways. And maybe even a better understanding of their culture of origin, given that understanding others and 'the best way to understand themselves.
(Photo Tiziano Terzani eating with the Chinese)
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