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.
Bjork is nobody's slave.
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).
claim to the region.
"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
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.
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?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_State_killings
Probably the most notable example of attempted Olympic exploitation was that offered by Hitler's Third Reich in the 1936 Olympics.
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?
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.
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!
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.
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!
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?)
Declare independence indeed!
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.
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.
Rub their noses in it, Bjork, go ahead. Icelanders can't be called imperialist thugs by Communist propagandists trying to equivocate.