Maybe I’m living in a parallel universe. Or maybe the reporter who wrote this article for the LA Times hasn’t lived in China and based her story on interviews within a too-specific demographic. Or perhaps she read too much into the fact that an exhibit displayed more photos of Bush than other US presidents, forgetting for a moment that Bush is our current president. Or maybe I somehow only interact with an anomalous minority. Either way, this story is baffling.
Bush might be leaving office with record-high disapproval ratings in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, but he has many fans in China. He is depicted in a dozen flattering photographs on display at an exhibit in Beijing marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
…”We will never forget that the leader of the most developed country in the world stood up to pressure to come to the Olympics,” Mao said.
In fact, China’s appreciation of Bush is part of an unlikely romance between the Republican Party and the Chinese Communist Party that dates to President Nixon’s historic visit in 1972. Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who as national security advisor set up the China trip the year before, also are lavishly celebrated in the photo exhibit, which opened Monday. Jimmy Carter, who was president when the treaty to normalize ties was signed in 1979, attended an opening ceremony, as did Kissinger.
Though both Carter and Bill Clinton have places of honor on the walls, the GOP reigns in the display of photographs. One particularly popular image, which frequently appears in the Chinese media, shows George H.W. Bush in 1974, when he was the top U.S. envoy to Beijing, posing casually with a bicycle in front of the Forbidden City.
…During the primaries, Obama was not popular in China, and people following the election campaign tended to favor Clinton, his then-rival. But his popularity soared after he won the election, and a Chinese translation of his book “The Audacity of Hope” soared to the top of the bestseller list here.
“
Let me just say this. In my entire stint in Asia, starting in 2001, I have never once heard a positive mention of Bush by any Chinese person, either in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan or the PRC. Not among teachers, mid-level government officials, co-workers, friends, business people or taxi drivers. Despite the bombing of the Belgrade embassy, I still hear Chinese people praise Clinton. I’m not sure why, but most seem to adore him. The mention of Bush’s name tends to prompt a reflexive reaction of scorn and disappointment. If people were glad he went to the Olympics, they didn’t make a big deal out if it, the way they did over Spielberg’s backing out. And I’m not sure how the reporter measured Obama’s “unpopularity” in China during the primaries. I’m not going to say Chinese people I knew were raving about Obama, and he probably was less popular than Clinton, but I never heard anything indicating he was unpopular. (The only memorable remark I heard about Obama that wasn’t gushing with praise came from a Chinese teacher who, the day after the election, asked me, “How is it possible that white people voted for a black man?”)
Bush may well be popular in government circles here, and with people in the American Chamber of Commerce. The problem is, the headline and much of the content leaves the reader with an impression that a significant number of Chinese people are “fans of Bush.” So again, unless I’m living in a parallel universe, I’d have to say the reporter is giving this article a heavy slant and has not explored all sides of the picture.
1
By Jason
I’ve also never heard a single peep of support for Bush. I think the closest I’ve gotten is hearing someone comment on his ‘strength’, but as I remember it was always followed by a remark about self-righteousness or him being a bully, and always with a flavor of disapproval.
As far as Obama goes, I spent the last year teaching adults and so I got to spend the entire election period talking about it with people pretty much every night. I never felt he was ‘unpopular’ per say, but most people didn’t think he could be elected, which isn’t very surprising and I don’t think is a reflection of China’s relationship with the U.S. Then, towards the end, when it became clear that Obama had a real chance, I heard a lot of support along the lines of ‘he would be much better than Bush…’, etc.
Then, when he was elected, a lot of surprise, and also fear that this would be bad for China. There’s some joke or saying about ‘whatever is good for the U.S., is bad for China.’ and I heard that laughingly a few times.
Just a few observations. But yeah, that article does not ring true to me on any level.
January 15, 2009 @ 10:29 am | Comment
2
By Shanghai Slim
That article was indeed puzzling. Is there some other “Beijing” somewhere that the reporter visited? Hey, it’s possible — after all, there are five tiny Shanghais in the USA.
My experience in China has been the same as yours, Richard.
I moved to Shanghai one week after Bush was first inaugerated, and in all the time since, I cannot recall hearing even a single positive comment about him from a local.
Both Clintons, I’ve found, remain very popular with the Chinese public, and there is a good deal of enthusiasm (and curiosity) about Obama.
I’ve heard a few positive references to Nixon (usually along the lines of “He opened China!”) and Kissinger (“Jews are very intelligent, just look at Kissinger!”). Of other American presidents, pretty much nothing, with the major exception of Lincoln, who all Chinese seem to recognize (there must be a prominent chapter in a universal Chinese high school textbook, or maybe it’s the “Gone with the Wind” thing). And just recently, since the Great Economic Unravelling began, I’ve had a few questions about FDR.
January 15, 2009 @ 2:19 pm | Comment
3
By trevelyan
Blindness to history seems to go both ways. Seen this, Richard?
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/01/hoisted-from-the-archives-chiang-kai-shek-and-the-bush-family.html
January 15, 2009 @ 3:31 pm | Comment
4
By otherlisa
What Richard and Shanghai Slim said. I’ve never heard good words for Bush. I read this and thought, “No way. You’ve got to be kidding!”
January 15, 2009 @ 3:41 pm | Comment
5
By Richard
Trev, thanks for that link. Every day I learn yet more ways the Bushes have redefined stoopid.
January 15, 2009 @ 4:56 pm | Comment
6 Posted at www.mahablog.com
[…] The Peking Duck: In my entire stint in Asia, starting in 2001, I have never once heard a positive mention of Bush by any Chinese person, either in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan or the PRC. Not among teachers, mid-level government officials, co-workers, friends, business people or taxi drivers. Despite the bombing of the Belgrade embassy, I still hear Chinese people praise Clinton. I’m not sure why, but most seem to adore him. The mention of Bush’s name tends to prompt a reflexive reaction of scorn and disappointment. If people were glad he went to the Olympics, they didn’t make a big deal out if it, the way they did over Spielberg’s backing out. And I’m not sure how the reporter measured Obama’s “unpopularity” in China during the primaries. I’m not going to say Chinese people I knew were raving about Obama, and he probably was less popular than Clinton, but I never heard anything indicating he was unpopular. (The only memorable remark I heard about Obama that wasn’t gushing with praise came from a Chinese teacher who, the day after the election, asked me, “How is it possible that white people voted for a black man?”) […]
January 15, 2009 @ 10:55 pm | Pingback
7
By gswafford
In China, Bush
nostalgia
January 15, 2009 @ 11:18 pm | Comment
8
By Hong Xiuquan
I got some very gushing praise for Bush from someone here in Taichung. I’m afraid he was Macedonian, however, so I would venture to guess he doesn’t represent mainstream Taiwanese opinion.
January 16, 2009 @ 12:43 am | Comment
9
By pug_ster
There’s a difference between what the Chinese people and Chinese government respond to Bush’s 8 years. Ever since Nixon has started diplomatic relations with China, the US by itself has always going after China because of its human rights issues. I doubt that the Chinese Media tries to say negative things about Bush unless he is doing something negative toward China.
January 16, 2009 @ 5:18 am | Comment
10
By MAC
I’ve seen stuff online that kind of praised Bush (while gently poking fun) for not taking himself too seriously or being too arrogant; an acquaintance, hearing that I hated Bush, asked “isn’t he doing a good job?” but then she’s kind of a ditz, and she may have been operating under the assumption that he must be doing great things for America to piss everybody else off so badly. But, yeah, that’s about it, this article is ridiculous.
January 16, 2009 @ 6:09 am | Comment
11
By cat
There was a strange op-ed in Southern Weekly a little while ago that argued that Bush’s presidency hadn’t been that bad. The writer thought he’d made some mistakes, but overall he’d been quite a good president. My eyes were almost popping out of my head, but quite a lot of Southern Weekly readers seemed to agree (though the SW website only allows readers to vote for an article, not against). I was thinking who on earth are this people? Do they just shut up when I’m around?
January 16, 2009 @ 6:57 am | Comment
12
By Richard
We’re starting to see articles all over the place about how history will judge Bush as a good president, a repeat of the Harry Truman scenario. To which I can only say, bullshit. Truman left office with the country intact. Bush leaves behind a shell of a country.
January 16, 2009 @ 9:40 am | Comment
13
By davesgonechina
I’ll say that I did hear positive mentions of Bush – once Obama was leading in the election. Bush started looking comparatively good *for China*, because people were worried Obama will be all protectionist/against Chinese trade. Through that lens, Bush looked awesome, *for China*, because he provided eight years of nearly wrinkle-free trade for Chinese products.
But pre-2008, everybody told me he was a warmongering dickhead.
January 16, 2009 @ 1:26 pm | Comment
14
By nanheyangrouchuan
I think the Chinese like Bush because he stance was pretty predictable, being very pro-business he would rock the commercial boat with China. Obama keeps his cards close to his chest, which the Chinese like to do but hate it when others do it. Obama is a populist and “America first” when it comes to fixing the economic crisis. The plan to dump money into infrastructure will do nothing for China and Obama is also pushing NASA to use Air Force rockets to get to the moon sooner and cheaper than originally planned, something that is probably twisting China’s nipples.
I really hope Obama sticks it to China.
January 16, 2009 @ 2:44 pm | Comment
15
By lam kebob
I think the Chinese like Bush because he stance was pretty predictable, being very pro-business he would rock the commercial boat with China. Obama keeps his cards close to his chest, which the Chinese like to do but hate it when others do it. Obama is a populist and “America first” when it comes to fixing the economic crisis. The plan to dump money into infrastructure will do nothing for China and Obama is also pushing NASA to use Air Force rockets to get to the moon sooner and cheaper than originally planned, something that is probably twisting China’s nipples.
I really hope Obama sticks it to China.
January 16, 2009 @ 2:45 pm | Comment
16
By Oab
@nanheyangrouchuan
You are still alive?
Bao just said he would not post anymore on another thread. Funny coincidence.
January 16, 2009 @ 2:52 pm | Comment
17
By Oab
No, I’m not nanheyangrouchuan. Just having fun with it, that’s it.
January 16, 2009 @ 2:56 pm | Comment
18 Posted at sun-zoo.com
[…] Times story reported that (soon to be former) President Bush has “many fans” in China, The Peking Duck (and, presumably, anyone else who has lived in China for more than a week) disagrees. -Danwei has […]
January 16, 2009 @ 3:46 pm | Pingback
19
By A Chinese
This is the comment section of Netease, one of China’s largest websites, following Bush’s farwell speech, you can have a look at it yourself. Of course, netizens are not a good sample of Chinese people, but it is still an indicator
http://comment.news.163.com/news_guoji2_bbs/4VPABKOD0001121M.html
January 16, 2009 @ 9:26 pm | Comment
20
By Matthew Stinson
The article’s not all wrong.
I think the writer is smoking something if he thinks regular Chinese liked Bush, like the rest of you I rarely heard a good word from them about George W., though Laura Bush was admired by some. On the other hand, it’s true that Hillary Clinton was preferred to Obama until Obama won and suddenly Obama became the living embodiment of the American dream to most college-age Chinese.
In the end it’s all but certain to be the case that the PRC bigs will look fondly upon the Bush years as the time when the US was a retarded giant that let China have its run in the playground of international politics — that is unless Obama pulls a 180 and decides to be more friendly to Beijing than even Bush was. (Most of us here are old enough to recall that Clinton ran in 1992 accusing Bush of fellating the “butchers in Beijing” after 89, then came ’round to making Jiang Zemin his favoritest karaoke partner ever.) If Obama wasn’t lying during the campaign, then one would expect the Chinese government to turn out some propaganda to sway Chinese opinion in an anti-Obama direction, perhaps in the form of economic nationalism.
January 17, 2009 @ 1:06 am | Comment
21
By yourfriend
I really hope Obama sticks it to China.
Obama isn’t focused on China but going by what both he and Hillary have been saying I really doubt anything is going to get “stuck” unless you mean America bending over for China’s assistance.
January 17, 2009 @ 11:43 am | Comment