Hung out with the foreigners from the office today after work. As usual, had very interesting conversations that provided intriguing perspectives on the motherland. Then met some more foreigners from the States who were here interning with some city planning folks. Made me wonder:

As Westerners, we tend to think of our Chinese colleagues as rather incompetent: disorganized, dysfunctional and just plain clueless. How much does work frustrate me? How often do I think that what I am handed is just plain bad journalism? How often do I think that no one knows what he’s talking about (no one knows what he’s talking about)? About every other sentence.

The city planners we met had their own complaints about Beijing’s highways and building spacing. Of course, no one is going to listen to them. The truth is, China just works, even without us Westerners meddling in their established modus operandi. It was quite astonishing to me that we even met a couple of foreigners in a random beer garden on a random street in the outskirts of the Haidian district. China is inviting so many foreigners into its bowels — and for what? Certainly not to heed our advice and knowledge. Perhaps it is in its Chinese off-handed way? But more likely, it is another case of maintaining mian zi, where China wants to appear inviting and open.

And perhaps it actually is inviting and open. China’s murky like that. It doesn’t appear to be, but you can never be quite sure. There are so many vagueries that even the Chinese can’t explain it. They are so deferential to foreigners and, yet, will never believe foreigners to be their equals in ideas and outlook. Foreigners are simply foreign, incapable of understanding. China must be the loneliest country.

Anyway. Why am I here? Can I change China for the better? Or am I simply living off the government’s auspices and getting the vacation of a lifetime for little more than helping the Chinese appear like they’re making overtures to the West?

Here is an example of a routine polishing job:

Democracy and freedom, as essential elements of a modern civil society, have already been recognized by the Chinese government…

Recognized, though apparently not put into practice. But a little recognition can go a long way.

At any rate, the piece it comes from was written by a lecturer at Beijing University of Chemical Technology on Rebiya Kadeer.

The most frustrating thing about work is the amount of misinformation and lack of clarity in many of the stories being put out by my company. Many of the people we work with are not journalists, just translators; and I am just polishing, not editing.