I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night and He Was A'Greetin' Customers at Wal-Mart.
Had me an interesting convesation with a witty Chinese grad student a couple of nights back and I just had to ask. . .
Is the Chinese government aware of how much human trafficking is going on between China and the oil-rich Arab Gulf states? And I added to my question that if these girls had been double crossed, that is, accepted a job in Dubai believing they were going to work as a secretary in an export/import office only to have their passports pulled upon arrival and are then beaten into submitting to a life on the game, if these girls were to go to their consulate in Dubai asking for help, would they be able to get help? Refuge? Sanctuary? A ticket home?
Her answer, "Probably not. The Chinese government looks at it like this--hey, at least you have a job, so quit your bitching."
"But what about the angry young men? Culural revolutions? Why don't the grandchildren of Chairman Mao say anything?"
She answered, "Oh. We still have angry young men but instead of standing up in the clasroom and bitching about empowering the proletariate, these days they argue about whether the Yuan should be tied to the Euro or the dollar."
Hold the phone. And what about Mao's Little Red Book? I asked.
"Oh, you can still find them. . .in antique stores."
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So what do you think? Was our witty grad student just being cynical? Or thoughtful? Because I would not like to have my opinions about the Chinese government driven by someone just being sarcastic. Know what I mean?
What are angry young women, probably more sarcastic and less passionate than angry young men. She's well traveled, well read, and well westernized. I got the feeling she was both sarcastic as a response to hapless resignation as thoughtful on the subject. The "Little Red Books can still be found in antique stores" is probably a shopworn one-liner but it was the first time I'd heard it, and I thought it was cool,so she remains cool. It was the two westerners present, shocked by my asking this poor young Chinese grad student inappropriate questions about Chinese whores in Dubai that might be the subtext of the anecdote, poor little Chinese girl being asked repeatedly about Chinese prozzies in Dubai by an uncouth American that disturbed them(and me but for different reasons)
Is there a race going on among ex-pats over who can come across more passionate and zealous about other cultures' inequities? I didn't know.
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