I don’t have a lot of faith in the Chinese: They have bad tastes, they’re generally disgusting and I may not have witnessed a bigger herd of sheep ever in my life or a group of people so unwilling to take the lead on and responsibility for anything. But every so often, I am reminded why.

Such as today, when Tan Zuoren was sentenced to five years in prison for “incitement to subversion” of state power. Tan is an activist and environmentalist in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. He had been working on an independent investigation into the collapse of school buildings in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and trying to ascertain the names of some 5,000 children who died as a result. He had publicly blamed the government for the schools’ shoddy construction, but the cited reason for his sentence was comments he had made in e-mail messages about the 1989 crackdown on demonstrators at Tian’anmen Square. The court never mentioned his earthquake investigation, though this is the obvious suspected reason.

China has a handful of such activists, willing to speak out against the government and criticize it for its (perceived) wrongdoings. A lot of them, like Tan, are imprisoned. The most recent case involved Liu Xiaobo, who was sentenced to 11 years for his involvement with Charter 08 (a petition calling for freedom of speech, human rights and free elections, among other things). Ai Weiwei, an outspoken artist and supreme critic of the Chinese government, has so far managed to avoid being arrested.

When dissenting voices are quelled so swiftly (in Tan’s case, the verdict was handed down in under 10 minutes), and a stamp of government approval is a prerequisite for everything, few people will bother to think for themselves. There’s a saying in China: You can do as you please, as long as it pleases the government. The deputy program director of Amnesty International in Hong Kong, Roseann Rife, summed up Tan’s verdict nicely:

“The message,” Ms. Rife adds, “is that civil society can participate, if at all, only under the government’s guidance and with its permission.”

The only outlet Chinese citizens seem to have to voice their opinions is the Internet. New words and catchphrases spread like wildfire over Chinese forums. The Chinese government is well aware of this, even going so far as to inviting netizens to participate in political affairs. Last year, after the death of an inmate in Yunnan Province aroused public suspicions of abuse and a cover up by prison officials, the government quelled the outcry by inviting netizens to participate in an independent investigation of the death. Alas, they were met with uncooperative officials and their investigation turned up inconclusive. It was a savvy propaganda move, designed to give Chinese citizens the feeling that their government is more open and more amenable to hearing their grievances. But the government knows online cynicism is still virtual and therefore poses very little threat in reality. CMP’s astute analysis:

In the government handling of the “eluding the cat” case we can glimpse an eerie phenomenon emerging in China: the rise of virtual political participation as a proxy and foil for real political empowerment. Notice, political rights are not on offer to China’s citizens. But if we believe the hype China’s state media are selling us, China’s “netizens” are in political ascent.

And that is why this latest catchphrase supporting Tan is so ironic. Tan’s given name, Zuoren (作人), is a homonym for “be a person” (做人): Wo yao zuo ren (我要作人) means, “I want to be a person,” but uses Tan’s name, so it really reads “I want Zuoren.” Clever, these netizens. Perhaps they do want to be people, with real rights and real voices that are capable of effecting change and that will be heard by their government, and their sentiment belies a subconscious awareness that their virtual selves are not real. But then, if their sentiment is of the virtual world, is it a real sentiment? Or will it not translate and netizens just keep going on as sheep?

As an aside: China blocks searches on Liu Xiaobo. The first time I googled his name, I was able to get search results, but none of the links worked — I’d get messages of not being connected to the Internet or server is down or the like. Going back to the search results brought up the same. After a new URL to another site and a few reloads, I am granted access to the Internet again. As of now, you can still google Tan Zuoren, but I suspect this won’t be the case for long.

“I believe that Chinese peacekeepers will win the glory for the motherland with their own strenuous efforts and successfully implement rescue and peacekeeping missions in Haiti.”

Hu Yunwang, director of the 5th anti-riot police force in Haiti in 2007, to Sina.com. He is being deployed there again to help with peacekeeping efforts in the earthquake aftermath.

In China, EVERYTHING is about China and how to bring glory to the Motherland, even in the wake of tragedy half the world away.

If China were a person, it could be psychoanalyzed as such: China suffers from an inferiority complex that has stunted its emotional and psychological development. Thus, it acts like a baby and shows an appalling lack of maturity in how it conducts its public relations.

China makes up for its insecurity by bragging about how great it is — because if you say it enough, surely people will catch on. It is always bragging about its economic development. After Copenhagen, the Chinese media bragged about China’s role in its “success”. Now, after the Haiti earthquake, they are bragging about their peacekeeping forces.

The quote above is from a (horrible) story I had to polish today, in which Hu seemed to mainly talk about what he will be doing in Haiti and the political and social conditions that might present challenges to his mission. It was tacked on at the end, out of nowhere (as Chinese writers are wont to do). To be fair, the reporter may have prompted Hu to say it, so Hu could have a heart. As for the Chinese as a whole, my faith in them is shattering.

Nothing like a good op-ed piece and a national birthday to reawaken my pro-China inclinations. The Grand Parade was certainly magnificent (you can always count on China to put on an over-the-top spectacle), but still super dry and hella boring. The only highlights were:

1. When, during the flag-raising ceremony, the soldier threw the flag into the air (at about 7:35 in the video). That is just cool.
2. When the all-female brigade passed by, Hu Jintao cracked a smile for the first time and started applauding. Who doesn’t like hundreds of rifle-toting women in blue uniform dresses marching in a unison bloc?
3. The nukes. On parade.

As for the op-ed, it should provide a cursory introduction to the fundamental ideas behind China’s actions, as well as a reminder that China does have veritable ideals of its own, fashioned from its millennia of history. They force my mind to bend in ways that my mind can’t (much like physics), but only time will tell if they will deliver. Cynics and critics still have a lot to say about China’s actual adherence and belief in those eight ideas (China’s selection of facts, the CCP’s performance legitimacy belies the party-state it set up), but the PRC is just 60 years old. While it has made some very rapid changes and progress in some areas, it remains — almost frustratingly — slow in reforming other areas.

I’m enjoying the Beijing night one last time from my balcony. I haven’t sat out here in forever, it seems, which makes me realize how long I’ve been here—long enough to undergo changes in behavior. Sitting on the balcony at night right before I went to bed was one of my favorite things about living here. It still is, but Beijing nights are no longer as cool as they used to be when I first got here. Plus we started staying out later, and I usually just went straight to bed after getting home and showering.

Today was actually probably the hottest day that I can recall. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot, around 35 degrees Celsius. But it feels nice right now, though not very much breeze. I’ve said this a gajillion times already, but I’m going to say it again: I can’t believe this is it and it’s over. Time flies. It feels like it’s been such a short time, but thinking back to the beginning—what did I know then? How did I imagine this would be?—it was so long ago and different.

Just back from Datong. I need to go meet a friend, though, but here are a few thoughts:

Datong, briefly: It’s nasty and dirty. China is, in general, but Datong is nasty and dirty in a different way. Shanxi is infamous for its coal mines, and the dust from the coal supposedly blankets the whole province. I don’t know if the dust in Datong was coal, though, it was mostly just very fine dirt. I suspect it was everywhere because Datong seemed to be tearing up all of its roads. Everywhere we went, we would drive at least on two really really bumpy dirt roads that looked to be once paved. Our hotel room had a bunch of bugs, including roaches. There also is no ice cream in Datong, which I will elaborate on later.

China, generally: My mini-holidays are over, and the next time I travel somewhere, it will be to go home. Getting out of Beijing has made me realize how spoiled this city has made me, though. Which is interesting to think because of how living in Beijing has made me realize how spoiled the States has made me. Beijing has culture; I mean, it has different people from different backgrounds, and they all clash with each other. At the same time, Beijing is still Beijing, still China, and it is so without losing its identity and history. It is surely changing rapidly, but getting lost in its hutongs will still transport you back in time. Datong was uninspiring, everywhere the same. In Beijing, vendors at markets vary very little, and the whole city of Datong was like that. Every store on a street by our hotel was a little convenience shop (more on this later). Another street was all mian guan (restaurants selling noodles). Of course, Datong is not a big city like Beijing. Perhaps it’s a good sign of progress that China has cities like Beijing, which was so different just 30 years ago. But, though cities are always ahead of the wave, they are not necessarily harbingers of the future.