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[Seth]

The war has started, as I'm sure all know by now. Has anyone noticed any change in attitudes towards foreigners? Threats, questions, glares, etc.? Was anyone here for the Hainan crash or the embassy bombing in Yugoslavia? What was the attitude like then?

[wOZfromOZ]

I've experienced a little bit of pointed staring of, like," who the hell are you foreign devil" but you've just got to call these people's bluff. Let 'em know that YOU are not going to accept what is essentially an extension of the propaganda machine which, even in 2003, is still xenophobic and supremely nationalistic.

What you should do is establish that you are here as a a foreign expert and you expect to be treated as such. When you're at a shop, railway station, market etc and some ignorant peasant demonstrates that he is in need of a lesson in good manners ......dont take a backward step......be very forthright and well intentioned in your clear demonstration of why they need to line up or wait until you've been served. It happens to me on a daily basis. I used to get angry about it but now I simply act in a very assertive way and, in the situation that I find unacceptable, simply but assertively point out what is unacceptable and that has never failed.

For examlple, today I was getting keys cut and this ignorant local came up, muttered to the key cutter and threw his keys on this repairmans workbench. This all happened while I was already being served and attended to. It's very easy to proceed to just look at the person in question and say to them that they must wait like everybody else and line up!!! Pick up the article in question - in this case, keys, and drop them on the ground or give them back to the individual concerned.

Works for me hey!

Hope this helps
wOZfromOZ

[Roger]

I was picked up by a limo in downtown, for corporate lessons in the boondocks. The driver is a jovial man, but today he was a bit moody. He greeted me by saying "i-erake jing".
This damned war is rather high on the minds of official China, and thus it is prominent in the news.

[Hamish]

Yes indeed, the war has started. My country, the USA, is once again dropping bombs on people who couldn�t find the US on a map, if they could afford a map. As George Carlin says, �killing brown skinned-people is OUR JOB!�

Personally, I have not had any indication from any Chinese that they hold me responsible for the crazy things Bush and his oil cartel buddies are up to. They do hold the American people who are in the US responsible, however. After all, they had a clear chance to stop this nonsense during the last election and chose instead to give the GOP control of Congress.

The most recent poll I have seen www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm indicates that 71% of the US population supports what my country is doing. It reminds me of the anti war efforts I was involved in during the Viet Nam war. Then as now, at the outset, less than 30% of the population opposed the war. As the body count mounted, opposition grew enough to topple Johnson. That is the AMERICAN body count I�m talking about. No one seemed to regret the brown-skinned body count. In the present conflict I expect the US body count to be very low,. Consequently, I think Americans will soon forget the war is happening, and turn their TVs to the day�s football game.

Should a Chinese person express anger toward me as a consequence of what my country is doing in the Middle East, I will attempt to discuss the issue with them and let them know that I share their disgust and sorrow. The Chinese I encounter are not upset over these events because their government is dictating their thoughts and feelings. They are very bright people and have the same internet access to the NYT, LAT and T of L we have. They oppose the war because they believe it is wrong.

If the war lasts very long, I think Americans in China can expect to feel some heat, and I think it is proper for them to have the experience. No �heat� we can anticipate here will approach the �heat� that is being distributed throughout Iraq in our name by the US military.

[Seth]

Tonight will be my first big test to check the general mood, but really, people around here are rude enough already, I can't imagine them being more rude. Until I get a clear reading, I'm Canadian as far as anyone who asks is concerned.
I read an AP article about 12 foreigners who protested the war in Beijing but now I can't find it. The article also said that 2 international schools there were closed for 'security concerns.'

[Hamish]

I would think a more effecient cure to your problem, this one at least, would be for YOU to wear the flag of YOUR country so people would know where YOU come from. (By the way, which is your country? As an American, I might want to wear you flag for a while, depending.)

[arioch36]

i don't know if the war is right or wrong. Personally i think the us could have been smarter, France could have been a lot more helpful, and MadSad will probably just be happy going to his grave if he can blow up one more oil well, or torture one more citizen.
That off my chest, from my students, co-teachers, aquaintances, mei you wenti. The older ones are all for the war, the kids all against it They may be right, but their logic stinks.
I can only think that maybe someone in Seth's postion, in a town of uneducated locals who resent all foreigners anyway, because we live a life they see on tv, but can never have, it might embolden them a bit to say something idiotic to prove they are men.


WHAT HAPPENED TO CCTV9 ??? Here in Zhengzhou, I can not get it . How can I get my exciting news information that repeats every 20 minutes? Anyone else not able to get CCTV9 ?

[Seth]

My CCTV9 is coming in fine.
Last night in town I personally didn't notice anything different. I walked around the busiest areas, took the bus, etc, nothing unusual. I went to my Swiss friends restaurant and talked for a bit. He said that he knew of one foreigner who was verbally threatened in the main market, and that the Luoyang chief of police has issued a warning to schools in the area with foreign teachers. One particular woman, from Texas, was told by her school she couldn't leave without a bodyguard, which might be a bit of an over reaction. I talked to some other Americans in town and they said all seemed normal.
I would imagine that China is trying it's hardest to keep anti-foreigner sentiment to it's lowest possible level. Between the WTO stuff and it's growing tourism market, it certainly doesn't want it's image tarnished.

[zacharybilton]

[The_Kong]

[mike w]

A troll with a shovel who likes digging

[KidfromBrooklyn]

I was in country for both events. Kosovo being by far the most precarious of the two. I was advised to stay indoors and not to come in contact with students until the heat blew over.

I could hear from my office and room at night mass student rallies condemning the USA, loud chanting and marching similar to Nazi night time rallies. Things went back to normal after about two weeks of madness. It was truly surreal.

[The_Kong]

[KidfromBrooklyn]

Kong, you could not have joined them unless you were a Chinese national. Are you? It would seem so.