Björk Exposes China's Greatest Weakness

In China, there is something called "The Three Ts." Despite what it sounds like, the phrase doesn't refer to the 3-pack of Hanes cotton undershirts churned out in a Chinese factory. Nor does it refer to Tianjin, Taiyuan and Taizhou, mainland China's three cities with populations over 3 million and names that begin with T. Rather, "The Three Ts" is a catchy phrase tossed around by foreigners that describes the most politically volatile subjects in modern China -- Taiwan, Tibet and Tiananmen Square -- subjects so vile and subversive that they mustn't be broached within a stone's throw of a Chinese ear. Much less written about in a newspaper. Much less screamed by a kooky Icelandic singer/performance artist in front of 3,000 rowdy concertgoers.

Talk about China's worst nightmare.

On Sunday, as part of China's ongoing effort to open itself up to the rest of the world, Björk, the 13-time Grammy nominated singer, performed at the Shanghai International Gymnastic Centre, her first live concert in mainland China. At the end of "Declare Independence," a song she originally wrote about Greenland, Björk repeatedly screamed "Tibet" and then sang of the Beijing-controlled region, "Don't let them do that to you. Raise your flag!" Some Chinese fans in the audience booed. Some foreign fans cheered. But no matter how you feel about Tibetan freedom, what is now being called "Björk's Shanghai Surprise" was as exhilarating as it was awkward. (And boy does this look awkward.)

Not just because it's fun to see the oppressive Chinese government get burned. But because in a month that saw Steven Spielberg renounce his role as Olympic adviser over Darfur, it is becoming clear that as China opens its doors to the world, it has also opened itself up to public humiliation on an unprecedented scale. And it will only get worse. As Variety writer Clifford Coonan pointed out in The Independent, "Her comments, low key as they were, illustrate the kind of problems the Chinese government is going to have keeping a lid on athletes and other visitors making political statements during August's Olympic Games in Beijing."

China is finding that loosening its controls on artistic expression, with the Beijing Olympics just five months away, might not be worth the trouble. Over the next few months, Chinese officials will be offering platforms, news pages and microphones to all types of people from all types of countries that potentially have never been to China, have no knowledge of China and have no respect for China. Thousands of athletes, writers and activists will descend on Beijing in the coming weeks, and surely some will seize the opportunity to publicly shame China. Tibetan freedom groups are salivating at the prospect of wreaking havoc during the Summer games. Björk is just the tip of the iceberg.

As any controversy involving one of "The Three Ts," the Chinese media declined to cover this story, in an effort, I can only assume, to not give anyone any ideas. But no matter how aggressively China disposes of its dissidents and muzzles its critics, Björk's protest for Tibetan freedom highlights China's gravest modern problem. Well, right after AIDS, corruption and extreme poverty. China must figure out a way to reconcile its genuine yearning to be part of the "rest of the world" with its total disregard for the way the rest of the world operates.

If you want the Rolling Stones, you can't strike songs from their setlist. If you want Spielberg, you can't expect him to run across a PR minefield to get to you. If you want the Olympics, then you can't spy on Olympic journalists. And if you want Björk, the eccentric pop artist, you can't expect her not to be eccentric.

Comments

[dgscol]

China great weakness is that its people are uninformed, and have no idea what is going on. You only know so much, going back and forth to work.

[faust2001]

We could all use independence right about now.
Bjork is nobody's slave.

[McCanMcSane]

Rock stars are cool and we should follow their every word of wisdom. They do neat stuff. Aren't they great? Doing rock, that is the ultimate and makes you see truth in all its glory. Please follow the rock stars. We need to follow them.

[Crowhaul]

I lived in China for 3 years. Dug it, too. (I spent most of my time there naysaying the christian evangelicals who dwell there in numbers, but that's a different topic altogether­.)

Here's the thing, people. As much as we may want to criticize the big, weird, wonderful, psychotic country of China for their lack of personal freedoms (and honestly, I rarely encountered this), at the very least it is not a country like ours that overthrows a sovereign country without provocation as we did to Iraq.

Regarding Tibet, at least the Chinese have a fairly convincing historical argument to support their claim, as well as the contiguous nature itself of the Tibet/China border (there have been arguments throughout history over these borders).

Our government , on the other hand, must be much more creative in figuring out a reason to stay 'indefinitely' in Iraq (which, absurdly, isn't even close to sharing a border with us).

[wildflowermaven]

China is not just in control of Tibet, they have embarked on a campaign to wipe out Tibetan culture and her people. They have given monetary and inducements to Han Chinese if they will move to Tibet, and in Llasa, the Tibetans are limited by the Chinese authorities in where they can live (see Frontline episode called Dreaming of Tibet). They also have plans to exploit Tibet's natural resources (undammed rivers, minerals etc) to benefit mainland China, not Tibet. I visited several cities in China and Tibet. Most Han Chinese (the dominant ethnic group) see Tibetans as backward, almost less than human. They have little to no respect or understanding of Tibetan culture. Whatever the historical ties are, China should not be allowed to destroy Tibet.

[shanghaislim]

BS. China has waged a campaign to explore and restore most cultural cultures of their past. They take great pride in this. What you see happening in Tibet is due to their political meddling in internal Chinese affairs and their staunch refusal to accept any part of China's
claim to the region.

[wonderingstar]

The U.S. was not just in control of Native American land, they embarked on a campaign to wipe out Native American culture and its people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//Native_Americans_in_the_United_States#Removal_and_reservations) They gave monetary and inducements to white settlers if they will move to Native American land, and in these Native American lands, the Native Americans were limited by the U.S. authorities in where they can live (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal_Act). They also exploited the North American continent's natural resources (undammed rivers, minerals etc) to benefit white Americans, not Native Americans. Most white Americans (the dominant ethnic group) saw Native Americans as backward, almost less than human. http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/nineteenth-century-representations-nativee). They had little to no respect or understanding of Native American culture. Whatever the historical ties are, the U.S. should not have been allowed to destroy Native Americans civilization. http://www.nativeamericans.com/

"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” Matthew 7:5

[Crowhaul]

And this differs how from the attrocities we've waged in Iraq?

[cricket]

china has attacked sovereign nation of republic of india in 1962. may be their arguments of tibet may be convincing for you but it dont convince me. tibet has more heritage aligned with india than china. dalai lama has said this. their script is more like north indian devanagari script. did you try to hear the other side of story ?

[rich3324]

It's a small thing but I plan on not watching the Olympics this year. Free Tibet.

[unclesmedley]

that'll learn ;em...!

[drblack]

The Chinese people are great but the Chinese government is terrible.
Freedom is at the discretion of the government. There is no free press, and that is the BIG difference in China as compares to Free countries like the US and those in western Europe.
In the US we talk about the evil our government does , we have a free internet, we have programs like Democracy Now.
To anyone who thinks China is free, go there with a big picture of the Dali Lama, wear a T shirt with his picture. Go to an internet cafe and type Tienanmen Square .
When there is no free press there is no true Freedom.
The Chinese government allows some freedom in economic matters because it benefits the Chinese government.
In the USA we can vote in a new leader of a different type, the Chinese can't.
The Chinese have not honored their side of the bargain when Bill Clinton gave the Most favored nation status.
No countries government is perfect but the Red Communist Chinese are one of the worst.

[wonderingstar]

These kinds of comparisons are not particularly helpful because it doesn't take account of difference in historical development. It's like comparing differences between whites and black society in America, and saying that because blacks as a group lag whites in education and income and have higher rates of incarceration that black society is "the worst society". Look at 20th century China and you see a fairly recent history of civil war, foreign invasion, political instability and famine as well as widespread illiteracy, lack of modern technology and infrastructure, and most importantly, an undeveloped legal framework and institutions. How can you protect and enforce civil rights without stable legal institutions? Where do you get judges to defend constitutional rights when there are no lawyers? 1978 marks the dividing line from a totalitarian regime to an authoritarian socialism with increasing democratic elements (see Long Time Coming: Prospects for Democracy in China, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080101faessay87101/john-l-thornton/long-time-coming.html). It takes a few generations to train a critical mass of legal professionals to run a democratic society - why did it take three generations after Emancipation to produce a Thurgood Marshall and the Civil Rights Act of 1964? China's already made enormous progress in legal development http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/pubs/descriptions/chinlaw.htmm) but it will take more time to mature. Provocative statements by foreign entertainers only confirm the fears of government hardline conservatives who say to the liberals, "see, this is what we happens when we listen to you". Now they will impose strict regulations on what entertainers say, like FCC's decency regulations after Janet Jackson's wardrobe misfunction. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec04/fine_9-23.htmll). Some people thought Janet Jackson was a hero too.

[shanghaislim]

Excellent Post!

[totallyclips]

As much as I think Bjork did the right, or her thing, she should of course expect reprisals, I remember the dixie chicks saying something about bush, and not being played on the radio for it etc, lets not make this an america v china thing, america has, probably, to many freedoms, if one thinks limbough, imus, and all the other shock jocks and right wing hosts should be able to spew thier right wing hate, then I disagree with you, someone here commented about the lack of murders in china etc, well we don't hear about them becasue they aren't published or printed, that is all about social harmony in the words of the chinese gov, that doesn't mean to say they don't happen, drugs, has this person been to sanlitun, you can buy anything you want there, I live here too, I feel very safe here, but then I feel safe wherever I go.

[terril]

Thank you Bjork, and thank you David!

[shanghaislim]

I remember watching the soldiers move in against the student protesters.

The tanks rolling in and soldiers shooting and killing innocent students.

The horror, the atrocity. How could a government do that to their own people?

OOOP's....­..that was Kent State a mere 19 years before Tienanmen Square!

Two sides of the same coin?

[jrb35]

There were no tanks at Kent State.

[SlithyTove]

Always have trouble seeing the forest for the trees, Mr. Literalist?

[SlithyTove]

And why is it that no one ever mentions Jackson State, with a majority African American student body, where two more students were killed ten days AFTER Kent State?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_State_killings

[shanghaislim]

Thank you. I learn something everyday. Shows how the media can make such a big difference in our knowledge. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable, but didn't know about Jackson State. Again Thank you for the lesson.

[liberalnfree]

Let's see: Chinese government claims 200-400 were killed, while the opposition claims up to 3000. Four people were killed at Kent State. The photo of the Kent State shootings won a Pulittzer Prize and the event became a by-word for government over-reaction and oppression. In contrast, public discussion of Tienanmen Square in China will send you to prison. Internet access for 1 billion Chinese to learn about Tienanmen Square is blocked. Chinese dissident leaders of the democracy movement fled China or were imprisoned. Same thing?

[jdm58]

Kudos to Bjork for calling China on Tibet. We in the west have so little knowledge on the subject, largely because of the peaceful nature of the Dalai Lama. But the human rights violations suffered on the Buddists by their Chinese suppressors deserve the same attention given to the women of Afghanistan, the inhabitants of Darfur, East Timor, etc...This Olympics should have been boycotted, as was the one in the USSR after their hostile invasion of Afghanistan. But since we Americans seem to love our sports more than the people of this planet, then Kudos to those who use this Olympics as a stage to point out the vast injustices inflicted by China on its own people, and elsewhere in the world. Its time people realize the REAL cost of their Hanes underwear.

[jrb35]

Boycotting the 1980 Olympics was stupid and pointless. It didn't accomplish anything other than to get the Soviets and entire Eastern Block to boycott the 1984 games in retaliation. Why punish amateur athletes who've trained for years to compete in the Olympics? It's not a question of whether we as a nation care more about sports than human rights. It's not a choice of one or the other. We can support both at the same time.

[SamThornton]

In a perfect world you would be right. Unfortunately, nations such as China and the old USSR use the Olympics to promote their own agendas, which are usually not particularly pure. For countries like this, the Olympics offers a perfect avenue for propaganda extolling their perverted way of life.

Probably the most notable example of attempted Olympic exploitation was that offered by Hitler's Third Reich in the 1936 Olympics.

[shanghaislim]

I spent a week with the Rolling Stones and one night at dinner, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts (whose brother lives in Shanghai by the way) were amazed at the freedoms that were there in Chinese society and were happy to make minor adjustments to their song set in the name of furthering their extended freedoms to the average Chinese citizen? With life comes compromise.

The Stones understood this as did such acts as Elton John and The Black-Eyed Peas. They all had glowing reports of the Chinese People and the freedom in their daily life?

Keith and Charlie were amazed that China was nothing like they had heard from the Western Press?

Sure China has a long way to go. But they approach reform slowly and cautiously. Who can blame them as they see the chaos that true complete free society brings, along with the ills that follow?

[emsique]

I also spend a lot of time in China. There is a helluva lot more freedom than most Americans think. Our country has many of the same issues we criticize the Chinese government for: Human rights abuses (gitmo, patriot act, extraordinary renditioning of abducted people, invasion and occupation of Iraq). Buddying up to evil countries for their oil(Saudi Arabia).
Just like us, their government is clumsy and corrupt. Just like us, they are a diverse place with good and evil people living there. An Icelandic singer may want to criticize them while she is there, but American entertainers would do well to help our country get back on its correct moral path before they criticize others.

[shanghaislim]

HuffPost's Pick

As an American living in China, you are correct. It is not perfect in China. They make many many mistakes. But for American Media to blast a society that is trying to better itself and its freedom for its own citizenry, is hypocritical.

Many factors need to be weighed. We live in a virtual crime-free environment in China. There are no random murders, as going to the local Wendy's and getting your head blown off?

I watch everyday as ordinary citizens argue with policemen, pushing shoving and shouting at them to make their point. What happens in America if you lay a hand on a Police Officer? You are arrested with a choke hold, a boot to your head and sometimes shot numerous times? So all controlling authority is only in the highest circles of Chinese Government or when you cross a line that they feel will cause unrest.

America wishes they could have less unrest? But it's too late. When the Nazi Party of America uses the right of free speech to march and hold a rally, causing protests, injuries and widespread damage in the name of freedom, something is wrong?

The Chinese have 5 times as many people to control. Without the proper checks and balances in their system it would be civil unrest x5.

When China makes a mistake with lead painted toys or tainted medicine, I have to point out how many people died last year in the US from e-coli in spinach or strawberries. How about the recent recall of 44 million tons of beef?

The old phrase comes to mind.....

...those in glass houses should not throw stones!

[drblack]

The Stones made some good music, but they have no sense of the real world, as most pampered celebrities .
They make a pile of money wherever they go and that is their first priority.
I don't look to the Stones for social commentary and don't look for music from historians.

[shanghaislim]

China would be SO much better off with the true freedoms of America?

Like guns to shoot fellow students?

Or guns and knives to butcher your family when they don't agree with your choice of boyfriends?

Or drugs and crack and anarchy?

Like freedom to torture "enemy combatants"

Like a rouge dictator/president to decide what is best for the citizens?

Like shitting on a constitution written by our founding fathers?

Like the freedom to invade other countries on the pretext of "national safety"

Like the freedom to not have medical coverage?

Like the freedom to give tax breaks to the rich?

Like the freedom to have Right Wing Talking Heads spewing lies on National television in the name of Free Speech?

ad infinitum?

Get off your high horse and see that with TOTAL FREEDOM comes TOTAL CHAOS.

Measured freedom is the answer. An answer that has passed America by!

[GeoNorth]

Measured freedom? Did you write that with a straight face? "with Total freedom comes total chaos." You write that like it's a bad thing. This is America. We are built on freedom. It starts with the individual. (Sort of like the Falun Gong. That's their crime.) After the individual come the family, then the neighborhood, the village, the state and the federal government. That's how you build a country. Iraq would do well to follow this line. China is run top down, sort of like what our administration is trying to do, and we as American, resist that. The government is the will of the people, not the other way around. Bjork is right to speak up.

[shanghaislim]

I witnessed first hand the day the Falun Gong held their first rally on the streets of Beijing back in 1998.

What the Chinese Government feared was their ability to organize and mobilize a large amount of people. They have no care or concern over Falun Gong beliefs.

They know from their own history, that is how they themselves the Communists started and yes it worries them? But make no mistake, they could care less about the beliefs.

....and I don't understand? You are saying that "Total Chaos" is a good thing?

.....rampa­nt murder, crime, rape and torture are a good thing? (and that is just on America's campuses-great environment for learning?)

[Citizen54]

Bjork... the greatest woman in the world.

Declare independence indeed!

[Pippilangstrumpf]

Bjork is awesome. Kudos to her for dissing the Chinese over Tibet.
People bood?
Ha. People bood when Sinead O'Connor ripped up a picture of the pope too. I loved that she did that.
The pope is human and puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else.
And the Chinese crimes against the Tibetans should not be swept under the rug. More people need to stand up and shout out.

[shanghaislim]

US crimes against the innocent children, women and men in Iraq or Afghanistan is ok though?

I believe the US has killed more innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan in 5 years than China has in 50 years in Tibet?

But that is OK, right?

And if Arizona decided they want independence from the US, after all they were part of another country less than a 100 years ago, that would be ok with you?

Tibet is a "cause celebre" just cool cause of that Dalai Lama guy and Richard Gere?

Learn the facts compare the history.

[procopios]

All right, I could accept the first mistake, but Arizona was part of another country 160 years ago. And it was part of Mexico for less than 30 years before the Mexican American War. And Catholic nuns and priests have nothing to fear in Arizona. How's Tibetan Buddhism these days? As for Tiananmen, there is simply no comparison to Kent State. Paranoia and incompetence led to the death of 4 protesters there. The PLA were sent with heavy weapons and armored vehicles into Tiananmen, with orders to shoot. The number of dead , whether by accident or intent, is and will remain unknown, because of the nature of the Chinese State.
Rub their noses in it, Bjork, go ahead. Icelanders can't be called imperialist thugs by Communist propagandists trying to equivocate.

[wildflowermaven]

Two wrongs don't make a right, you can't say what the Chinese do to Tibetans and other dissidents are okay because of things the U.S. has done. The fact that we 'ethnically cleansed' much of the country (including Arizona) of Native Americans doesn't mean we should let China do the same to Tibet. We were wrong then, and they are wrong now.