Does that sound familiar to you? I’ve had very similar experiences from Moscow to Berlin to New York; this time around, it was Beijing. I had been to Beijing several times before, my activities mostly limited to seeing millenia-old buildings or Communist memorabilia. So it had never occurred to me that Beijing was actually quite a shopper’s paradise.(Do blame airlines’ ridiculous weight allowances for my need to go indulge in consumerism).

Surprisingly, Beijing is in many ways much more consumerism-friendly than Moscow or NYC. Its malls are mostly very recently built (the one we went to is only two years old), and they feature exciting architecture, spacious food courts, and escalators galore (not to mention ubiquitous ads mostly featuring very Caucasian models). Beijingers love their sales as much as any red-blooded capitalist, and they enjoy a nice array of European, American, and Asian brands. There are, of course, cultural differences: Starbucks features coffee with jelly in it (jelly is added to various beverages in China); most snacks on display are cut-up fruit, not deep-fried-high-trans-fat-inedible-fast food; 99% of moisturizers feature whitening ingredients; I need a Small in European brands, an Extra-small in American ones (talk about vanity sizing), and a Large/Extra large in the Asian ones (talk about bruised ego). Plus, the Asian brands never carry my shoes size (a shocking 8-8.5). Other than that, local malls have that cosmopolitan feel to them that so many others ones all over the world do. Good for Bejing and Beijingers and us expats, right?

Having grown up in a post-Communist environment and having heard stories about shortage of everything, food and toilet paper included, I really came to appreciate being able to choose a gym bag from fifty different colors and shapes in at least twenty stores at the same mall. Of course, there is an income gap and the fact that most of the population will never be able to afford said gym bag, yet alone a coffee at Starbucks, but I’ve spent enough time in Russia to stop being sensitive to that fact. What really shocked me about local malls was how un-communist it all felt. Here I was in a middle of a country that blocks YouTube and -sometimes – Google, sets limits on the height of dogs, and requires foreigners to register with the authorities for as long as a one night stay with friends — not too mention much more serious violations of jus cogens — and everyone was happily hitting the sales. I wonder if the key to having a successful authoritarian regime is providing the masses with enough entertainment to make them forget the politics of it all?

Several Chinese friends who speak good English didn’t know the English word for ‘communism’, yet they can comfortably discuss lattes, sales, hairstyles, and what’s in vogue. I told a friend a joke about the CCP standing for the Chinese Capitalist Party, and she thought it was so true she had texted it to her friends right away. Many young adults appear not to care about Mao, Deng, or “whoever-the-leader-is-at-the-moment.” They have been through some political education classes, but never paid attention. They know that people sometimes disappear, but they stopped worrying about a long time ago, because most people don’t. They study English and want to go to college in the US, Europe, and Australia, or, in the worst case scenario, get a job with a foreign company in Beijing or Shanghai. They admit they don’t care about politics. All they want is a lifestyle filled with friends, fun, and shopping.

When I went on a day trip to a nearby village (very tourist-oriented, with all sorts of signs and sights and whatnot), many houses had signs that read: “Beijing Rural Tourism Household — Rated by Beijing Rural Tourism Household Rating Commission.” Which means there is a special government body that walks around rating rural households: “Congratulations, you made it! You are now a model household fit for being showed off to tourists!” That seems like a little too much government intervention to me.

China has just now blocked Facebook. Now, when they clocked YouTube I didn’t mind as much since I am not an avid user; but Facebook?!

In the meantime, life goes on. The malls are filed with customers, and the Internet censors are hard at work.

I have been asking myself that question for the past week.

I signed up for a 2 months membership at a neighborhood gym in Beijing (yes, I am in Beijing for the next 6 or so months; more details later). It’s a great gym with all sorts of facilities, and a great membership price ($40 for 2 months!). Their trademark is asking their patrons about their zodiac signs, and then putting them on the membership cards. Here’s mine:

Just how cool is this kickboxing bull?

So yes, I am loving this gym, and it’s great to go while going to combat the stress of five hours of Chinese class five times a week. The only problem is that I attract too much attention. Other gym-goers have been randomly whipping out cameras/cell phones and taking pictures of me. Furthermore, people have been taking pictures of me at subway stations. A few days ago I got approached by a waiter at dinner who asked me if I was Russian. (Is my citizenship written in large neon letters on my forehead? I am not ethnically Russian) She explained that I am “blonde and pretty” and hence Russian.

I used to be pretty self-conscious about things like this (you know, being taken pictures of while sweaty and running that last mile), but I thankfully got over it several years ago in Hong Kong. But I still find it pretty funny.

I am really enjoying China so far, save for the going to class part (ok, ok, I do like my 25 hours of Chinese per week, but shhhh, it’s a secret). I have been experimenting with buying interesting Chinese foods a lot. This is something that they call ‘grass jelly’ in Hong Kong.

These packages come with a thick layer of plastic that takes a lot of stabbing with scissors to open. As far as I can tell, they fall into a category of Chinese dessert. And yes, I have been living without chocolate for over a week now. I have managed to track down coffee (of the instant variety, but that’s still pretty good), but chocolate isn’t available just about everywhere unlike in the westernized parts of the world. Oh well — we’ll see how long I can make it without chocolate.

]]> http://www.annaershova.com/blog/first-week-in-china/feed/ 0 http://www.annaershova.com/blog/america-in-need-of-perestroika/ http://www.annaershova.com/blog/america-in-need-of-perestroika/#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:49:46 +0000 Anna Ershova http://www.annaershova.com/blog/?p=207 Gorbachev’s 1987 perestroika signaled beginning of the end for the USSR. Perestroika means re-building in Russian; it primarily referred to re-structuring of the Soviet economy, although it did lead to significant political changes in the Soviet bloc. It collapsed, erasing one  of  our two superpowers from the world’s geopolitical map, making for a unipolar and then a multipolar world… and the rest is really poli sci 101.

Twenty-ones years later, Mr. Gorbachev is back proposing a new kind of perestroika: for the US.

America needs perestroika right now. I did a lecture in the US and said the country needs its own perestroika and I got a 10 minute standing ovation,” said the man whose own policies helped trigger the collapse of the Soviet Union. “

(President) Obama’s proposals will be bigger than perestroika. I want to wish success to Obama and his Cabinet, because the problems he has to deal with are not easy ones.

Of course, President Obama is not exactly leading a Communist nation with command economy, but he does need to change, maybe fundamentally, the way economics in the US functions.

Interestingly enough, Gorbachev challenged the communist behemoth and ended up making it capitalist; Barack Obama, president of possibly the most pro-capitalist nation in the world, is perceived as ’socialist’ by his political foes. He was in fact accused of being a socialist during his campaign. Remember Joe the Plumber’s accusation of Obama being on the ’slippery Socialist slope’ of trying to ’spread the wealth’?

Whether it is called socialism, communism, or any other -ism, Obama’s plan to ’spread the wealth around’ makes sense in this economy. The supposed wonders of free economy led to the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression. What’s worse is its impact on the world; the recession in the US caused a domino effect of national currencies worldwide tanking, trade stalling, consuption fallin, and a myriad other negative effects. At least the USSR’s socialism/communism and its ill economic consequences was limited to only a handful of countries.

As Mr. Gorbachev knows all too well, socialism has many problems. As President Obama is learning, capitalism has serious problems of its own. It seems that what they need is a perestroika of economic theory, not just economic policies.

Georgia has participated in the Eurovision only twice before. So when Georgia pulled out of this year’s contest yesterday, I felt bad for it. But what is the deal with all the hypocrisy?

Here is what MSNBC quotes Georgia’s representative as saying:

“Our song … does not contain political statements and the public broadcaster is not going to change the text of the song and refuses to go to competition in Moscow,” the head of production at Georgia’s state broadcaster, First Channel, George Chanturia, told a news briefing.

Many countries in the past expressed and enforced their political views through using or banning popular music. National anthems are composed to sound grand and solemn to inspire patriotism. The Russian’s use of the old Soviet score for theirs was a definitive political choice. But politics and music intertwine more often than an average Russian hears the anthem: Presidential candidates everywhere enlist pop singers to campaign for them. Western Ukraine banned playing songs in Russian in public places a few summers ago (all other languages were fine). The Beatles were banned in the USSR at some point — as a propaganda tool of the “decaying capitalism.  I have seen North Koreans study Britney Spears CD’s as a way of learning about America’s culture.

There is nothing wrong when a band from a country that feels oppressed performs a song that claims they don’t want a president of the oppressing country. I mean, North Korea does it with George Bush. Wait, that’s a bad example. All similar ones I can think of right now were written by the Communist propaganda masters.

Anyway, there is also nothing wrong when that song gets distributed worldwide through the wonder that is YouTube. But it is somewhat strange when that song gets entered into a competition that is supposed to be non-political by nature, that will be held in the ‘oppressing country’s’ capital, — and when the official representatives claim it is clearly non-political and act all indignant.

If there were no rules in place that ban songs of political nature to be performed at Eurovision, I would not mind ‘We Don’t Wanna Put In being performed this year. Freedom of speech is a jus cogens to me. Truth be told, Eurovision is a very politicized events, and the way voting is structured allows countries to block against other countries etc.

Judging aside, from a political scientist viewpoint, I think that this song situation did not work in Georgia’s favor. Georgia knew what the rules were, it knew that everyone would hear ‘Putin,’ not ‘Put In’, it could probably predict the song would be banned by the Eurovision organizers. I would guess that it was looking for some sort of political martyr reputation, but instead, it came across as being petty. Georgia just needs a new political strategist.

It was like some opening into a doorway of dreams in Russian-Ukrainian fairy tale fantasy dreams,” the first-row guest told reporters backstage.

A Russian-Ukrainian fairy tale? Sounds good to me.

Many a Russian woman who found herself choosing between furs or ugly, bulky, shapeless jackets for a Russian winter will appreciate the fashionable efforts of the designers to make something warm and Russia-inspired (that is, if she can still afford it). The usual array of Russian/Eastern European models made these collections made even more relevant in a cute way.

But now that the designers got their fashion inspirations right, they need to get their weather facts straight.

Citing Newsvine: “Kenzo sent out oversized felt coats and voluminous striped knits that were fit for a Siberian winter.”

Here is a photograph of Kenzo outfit  taken by style.com’s Marcio Madeira’s (btw, it is modeled by a Belorusian):

Siberia is warming up, but is this fit for a Russian winter? I don’t think so.

The song’s title is “Mamo,” which is how one addresses one’s mother in Ukrainian. It’s a regular sentimental song, but at least it’s not politics-laden. Now, that’s refreshing.

The best part of Russia’s choice is that the lyrics were written by an Estonian, and the music was composed by a Georgian.

Here is the song:

Here is a link to a YouTube video of what I think is a TV screen record, with the actual performance.

Although I can’t be bothered to look up the statistics (I am on the spring break, after all), I believe around 13% of Russians, myself included, are actually ethnic Ukrainians. A Ukrainian has as much of a right to represent Russia as a representative of any common ethnicity in Russia. As a Russian-Ukrainian, I am absolutely ecstatic (plus Eurovision falls on my birthday this year).

I was semi-expecting more political gestures at this year’s Eurovision, but this is actually a gesture of goodwill. Take that, Georgia.

In 2007, Ukraine’s Verka Serduchka sang what s/he claimed to have been “Lasha Tumbai” (a meaningless combination of sounds, really), but everyone heard “Russia, Goodbye.”

In 2008, Russia responded with Dima Bilan, who sang alongside an Olympic golden medalist Yevgeniy Plyushchenko to the accompanying Hungarian violist Edvin Marton. Dima Bilan became the first Russian to have won the Eurovision (Ukraine has two victories under her belt).

As the preparations for the 2009 contest are on the way, things are getting political. While most countries have not held the qualifying finals for their participants, Georgia announced its candidate, the band Stephane&3G that was specifically tailored to enter Eurovision. The country has only been participating in the Eurovision since 2007. Here are some of the lyrics:

We don’t wanna put in

The negative move

It’s killin’ the groove

There is a really awesome YouTube video of this song:

It certainly has a Eurovision winner potential: it is catchy, clearly inspired by American pop bands, and it has three girls with an exotic accent in tight PVC tops and mini-shorts. And it mentions drinking moonshine. That, along with the song’s message, will probably guarantee it many votes from the amused Western Europe and Russia-hating Eastern European countries.

Ironically, this year’s Eurovision will be held in Moscow (Russia’s Dima Bilan won last year), so “We Don’t Wanna Put In” will sound even more provocative. If the Eurovision organizing committee does allow this song to be performed (there were questions raised as to its appropriateness), I wonder what the Kremlin’s reaction will be.

I can see why the Georgians are so tongue-in-cheek regarding their behemoth neighbor, but that’s a petty way to deliver a protest, isn’t it? Georgia, if you are still mad over Abkhazia and Ossetia, go to a court of law, not the performance stage.

Ex-President Putin launched several society-friendly campaigns during his presidency: pro-natal policies, education loans etc. President Medvedev is taking over with a new initiative: an anti-alcohol campaign. Russia’s First Channel (probably the most-watched channel in the country) has been showing very graphic ads several times a day. Each one is names after a body part that is most affected by elevated alcohol consumption, such as brain and heart.

Here’s an approximate transcript of the brain one:

When alcohol enters your bloodstream, the erythrocytes coalesce. Blood clots that completely block your capillaries begin to form in your blood. Capillaries swell and explode.

When your consume 100g of vodka, around 8,000 brain cells die. After each drinking party over 10,000 dead brain cells leave your body with urine. Take care of yourself!

The accompanying video is so graphic that it makes your brain cells die right away, without any alcohol intake. I am not posting any screen shots since they can be too disturbing to some readers. But check for yourself on YouTube, and those brave enough to watch the other ads in the series can do it here.

Russia is indeed in dire need of an anti-alcohol campaign. The legal drinking age is 18, but it is rarely, if ever, enforced (I once observed a teenager who looked like he was 14 buy a bottle of vodka. The cashier was reluctant to sell to it to him, to which he replied it was for his dad. Once he left the store, he took out his sell phone to report that he was coming with the vodka to this friends). ‘Beer alcoholism’ is a rising phenomenon amongst teenagers and young men. Widespread advertising of beer and a belief that beer is ‘not really alcohol’ led to it becoming almost as commonplace as, say, coke is in the US. This problem is so deeply-rooted that the law banning drinking alcohol on the streets that was passed in 2004 was one of the very few Putin-approved laws that were never taken seriously.

The last anti-alcohol campaign in Russia, an all-out war heralded by Gorbachev in 1985-1988, failed miserably. Many wonderful vineyards were shut down and many ridiculous mottoes were coined in the name of a healthy nation. People instead resorted to making moonshine and trading it at the black market.  This campaign has the potential to be much more successful than any prohibition can be.

Sometimes the ads directly pertain to Yale (e.g., ads for the Yale Rep plays), so I assume the ones above are a product of Facebook’s targeting advertising.

I used to joke sarcastically about the stereotype that the advertisers have about the Ivory Tower. Clearly, to them a typical Yalie is a prep school grad who goes to prep school, gets an i-banking internship, and heads straight to law school, where s/he hangs her IQ certificate on the wall of their dorm.

But as I logged on tonight, there was a somewhat different ad:

"Obama Grants" Ads

I ignored it at first, but it resurfaced in this reincarnated form:

"Obama Grants" Ad 2

To be honest, when I saw these ads, I thought that it was some sort of practical joke on the oh-so-smart Ivy-Leaguers. You know, of a kind that would have a huge pop-up window saying “How stupid are you to have fallen for this” when you click on an ad. But the ads link to website where a proud-Texas-firefighter-turned-financial-guru offers you to “get free $12,000 from the government in 30 days.”

Screenshot from the website

The government clearly owes me a bunch of easily accessible cash. Oh wait, I am not a US citizen, and my government clearly does not think it owes me anything. Although I do have a feeling that if I pay $2.99 that Kevin is asking for the “free grant kit,” I might find out that the US government owes me money, too.

So Kevin Hoeffer, a trustworthy-looking fella, claims to have gotten rid of his debt and starting living a nice life (presumably consisting of visits to steak houses in NYC) after getting “free cash” from the government.

I have to admit I don’t know how to react to all this scam. If Facebook does use targeting advertising (and if it does not screen its ads), should I be offended for being considered so stupid?

Maybe I should go take one of those you-are-at-Harvard-but-are-you-a-genius IQ tests.

With financial gloom dominating Davos, the Israel-Palestine hysteria, and people being laid off by the thousand worldwide, Ukraine and her problems were virtually ignored. While Eastern Europe is whispering about the nearing economic collapse, the most relevant entry about Ukraine’s economic collapse that a Google search in English produces are dated 1993 and 1998, when the economy was truly going down the drain. It looks like 2009 will also join the ranks.

I will not bore you with the details of all the economic troubles Ukraine is facing. If interested in details, read this Jan 19 report, and make all the bad indicators even worse. Then add the constant fighting between President Yushchenko and premier Timoshenko; subtract the non-functioning government. Can anyone say “imminent collapse”?

There was something that drew my attention a few days ago, but I was too busy writing countless applications to blog about it. A story surfaced in the Russian and Ukrainian mass media about a report supposedly written by Ukraine’s finance minister Viktor Pinzenik. In brief, it augurs the nearing collapse of Ukraine’s economy.

Drawing from my own politics-related experience in Ukraine, a fake report to scare the population and intimidate the government would not surprise me. But it was never properly denounced by the Ukraine’s government.

For any interested speakers of Ukrainian, there is a photograph/scan of the report here. After several pages of sad economic stats and a lot of pathos (if someone indeed faked it, they put a whole lot of effort in it), the report concludes with:

An excerpt from what is believed to be Pinzenik's report

“The country is in danger. The citizens are in danger. (Political) power is not an award. It is first and foremost responsibility to people. I would like to emphasize one more time: there is a way out of the current difficult situation. But we are almost out of time…”

There are also rumors that Rada’s (Ukraine’s parliament) employees, including the MP’s, is behind on the salary payments for this month. For all I know, it might be just rumors, but it sounds likely to be true.

As a Ukrainian, I am very upset about Ukraine’s future.

As a political scientist, at least I get to benefit from studying how “dirty” political technologies are used to undermine an opponent in the game of politics.

Although I hope that the report above and all the rumors are not true, it is quite certain that Yale’s poli sci department is probably the safest place to observe Ukraine’s government failures.