Why was Locke called a Banana?

A short while ago, Ambassador Gary Locke left China to return to the States.   Yet another American Ambassador that did not finish, (or have any intention of doing so), his 4 year stay in Beijing. 

How embarrassing.  When the President of the United States appoints someone to a post, one would hope he’d stay all four years.  Well….so much for that.   Huntsman left early.  So did Locke.  I don’t know about you, but methinks this job is way too important to leave it to folks that consider it only a 2 year post.   All the more reason to appoint a professional to the job.  Someone with a sense of obligation. 

Instead, we’ll have to stumble through the next guy( a former politician, whose knowledge of China is so infinitesimally  small, that we should actually be relieved he will probably only stay 2 years as well), and hope while he is the Ambassador to China, he will actually “learn” something about the country while he’s on the job. (Oh, to be able to learn on the job…what a luxury!)

He’s already admitted to knowing little, if anything at all, about China.    

I believe every country chooses as it’s Ambassador to America it’s most capable, or most politically savvy, and loyal representative.   And how do we reciprocate?   Well, if you are America, you find someone from your POLITICAL PARTY to do the job.  (I actually think we’d be respected more by China if we actually chose someone steeped in Chinese History and Language, rather than continue the habit of sending over Americans that have reached a ‘dead end’ in their career. )

Now think about that for a minute.   The most influential country alongside the United States for the foreseeable future is going to be, and already is, China.  Not Britain.  Not Japan.  Not Canada.  America’s military budget, Pacific strategy, etc, will be greatly predominated by what we think China will, or is already doing.   Therefore, don’t we need people in China that can discern not just what China is thinking, but why it thinks what it does?    

And shouldn’t one of those people be Ambassador?

So who better to choose for the job, than…..A Chinese American!

Right?

Hey…wait a minute….

Didn’t we just do that??

Didn’t we just have “one of their own” as Ambassador to China?

Name?

Well, Gary Locke, of course.   He of Starbucks discount fame(seriously?  Starbucks has discounts??)

He’s a Chinese American(with a Chinese American wife!), and well…..as he is of Chinese ancestry, one couldn’t help but think “what a great choice” to be the next American Ambassador to China.

Except he wasn’t.  And that’s what I want to talk about.

Seems the Chinese Government hated the guy.

WTF???

Go figure.

China couldn’t wait to see this guy off at the dock.

And boy was it embarrassing.

Why was Locke so badly insulted upon his departure from China？He is Chinese right?   One would think China would be thrilled to finally have one of “its own” as Ambassador from America. 

No? 

Why not?

As we all know, some anonymous writer in a Nationalistic Newspaper wished Mr. Locke goodbye, by calling him "yellow-skinned white-hearted banana man"( SCMP).  

So what does this tell us about China? Because I think the attention paid by China’s Media to Ambassador Locke is a great teaching point about Chinese Thinking itself. 

First of all, we have to remember the Chinese Language is pretty good at insults.    They have daily insults I myself would never use(and I won’t even print them here).  Conversations with disagreement often deteriorate rather quickly into neither logic nor reason.   The art of persuasion leaves the scene, to be replaced instead with high pitched phrases about the other one’s mother.

We’ve all seen the “development” of democracy in Taiwan’s legislature.  The insults, the fights, (women slapping women), the utter embarrassment Taiwan has brought to Chinese culture when the infighting is aired globally.  Think Mainland China is any different?

One would think Decorum and Civility do not exist.  

Second, we have to understand that despite all one hears about “5000 years of culture”, China in my view is still a rather immature nation.  (Witness the insults).  It’s quite sad to hear a nation as cultivated as China is, with so many polite and well-mannered people, be given a Black Eye by an anonymous writer of a State Newspaper(who does he think he is, a blogger?)

Calling an overseas Chinese(doesn’t matter what country he’s from) a “banana” is shocking of course, but was obviously chosen for its “shock” value.  (let’s not forget, the word “laowai”, has denigrating origins as well)  I’m sure the writer fully understood the reaction he would get, but did not in the least comprehend how the usage of this term would boomerang, and leave Chinese Culture with a Black Eye.

It’s a reminder that China as a State is still unable to easily take criticism.  It’s authors can write with neither fear of reprisal nor accountability for what has been printed.  It’s a reminder that China has a massive chip on its shoulder.   It’s a reminder that a Government Apparatus that is used to framing not only what the story will be, but how it will be presented, is not welcoming in the least to outsiders beyond its control doing the same.  

Air Pollution in China comes to mind.  Ambassador Locke refused to shut down the pollution reading sensors within the grounds of the embassy.   His refusal to give his ancestral home any “face” did him no favors.   And that makes the backlash all the more severe. 

Was China perhaps hoping that having an Ambassador with such a strong Chinese bond would make its case easier to comprehend?   I think so.  Was China less tolerant, and thus more willing to call Locke all those names as a result?  Absolutely.  

I think China gave Locke a “chance” to show his “Chinese side”, and Locke responded by visiting Tibet.  That goes to show that China does have a double standard towards how it treats people with Chinese blood as opposed to an ordinary Laowai.  It reveals volumes about the Chinese way of thinking.

Does not a Chinese girl treat a foreigner differently than she would treat a Chinese fellow?  Of course.  Same thing.   Ambassador Locke in my view was not so much treated as guest, or representative of a foreign country, as he was a figure to be manipulated to the benefit of the Heavenly Kingdom.

But I think there were other reasons why China was so sensitive to Locke, and thus so mean with its insults.

Yes, The Man is Chinese.  BUT ….

The Man don’t speak Mandarin.  At all.

It’s ironic that while Locke’s family is actually “more American”(ie been here longer) than most of ours(and his father is an actual WW2 veteran),  he was still looked upon as “Chinese” by Obama.   BIG FAIL.  

Methinks Mr. Locke got so much grief not just because of his lack of Chinese language skills, but also because of his innate “knowledge” of Chinese culture.   One cannot argue, that just because Locke lived in America all his life, that he forgot how it was like to be Chinese.   Because of his ancestry, I’m sure Locke knew fully well the nuance of Chinese culture.   And the Chinese Mindset.  And I’m sure this infuriated China all the more.  For some reason, the Chinese are built to expect Chinese descendants to “act Chinese”.

(The Chinese leadership obviously hasn’t seen all the Chinese kids running around my house)

There is no question that while Locke was Ambassador a “tug of war” existed, between China’s obvious condescension towards “one of ours” who couldn’t speak a lick of Mandarin, and Locke, who relished the opportunity to stick his finger in China’s eye.   After all, his wife’s ancestry is from Taiwan.   

Now…contrast this to his predecessor, Huntsman.    His Chinese is pretty good.  Better than Locke’s.  And he’s not Chinese!   Does Huntsman know China though?  Most English Teachers(I’m sorry to be picking on you guys) have spent more time in China than this guy(or even Locke!) has.   Only partially tongue in cheek, he’s not “one of us”。   (He learned his Mandarin in Taiwan!)

I’ll never in a million damn years respect someone who learned his Mandarin in Taiwan, vis a vis learning it in China.   (except for the Mormons, which…whoops is what Huntsman is… still I can’t help myself!)

Now, I think once in a while there is a valid situation where one does not have to speak Mandarin to be a China Expert.   (Someone that understands the mental makeup of the Han, as much as it’s History. )

Gary Locke comes to mind.   Everyone should know by now my thoughts on the importance of learning Mandarin, if one is serious about coming here, doing biz, etc.,  it must be done, and is a serious sign of disrespect if not undertaken.

I like to say one cannot know China if one cannot speak the language.  Still, that does not preclude Chinese Americans from understanding the Chinese Way of Thinking.   And I will argue Locke had gobs of this knowledge, and with this understanding of Chinese culture, still refused to cut China any Slack. 

So is this why Huntsman was not as vilified as Locke?   I think so.   China, like that gf, doesn’t hold the laowai to the same standard as it would one of its own.  Simple as that.   An Ambassador of non-Chinese descent isn’t supposed to “know” us.   Locke was worse because while showing very well his innate knowledge of the Chinese Culture, and it’s way of thinking, he still went ahead and did what he wanted to do anyway.   Is it any surprise therefore that in the eyes of his “fellow Chinese” he was so vilified? 

So as you know, that must make him a “banana”.