Anti-China Propaganda – the sobering reality

I put “China” in Substack’s search bar for the first time today, thinking I’ll find some fellow writers of history, culture, or mythology. Instead, the results made me realize that my time on XiaoHongShu (RedNote) has given me a false sense of hope.

If search results on Substack are to be believed, then China-hating is still very much mainstream. All that cultural exchange, hope, and positivity I see on XHS, are they only limited to the TikTok Refugees? The liberal individuals seeking refuge? The few influencers who put their words into action and actually visited China to see for themselves what life in China is actually like? Does the vast majority of Western population still believe… actually, yeah, of course they still believe in the anti-China propaganda. It’s what we grew up with, are spoon fed with it at every point of our development. It’s seen in what’s been left out of textbooks in classrooms, in the subjective way that news stories are spun, and in the constant fear mongering propagated by our trustful US government, what with official warnings against travel and all.

Never mind that China is probably the safest country in the world right now. I mean, I can leave a laptop on a park bench and walk away for hours without worrying that it’d be stolen. I can walk around in my PJs at 3am in the morning by myself, just for fun, and not worry I’ll be attacked.

The popular joke on XHS goes like this:

“It’s so dangerous to go out on my own at night in China! Look at this! Look at all this delicious food in night market food stalls! I’m in serious danger of getting fat when ever I go out at night!”

The concept of safety in the US comes down to personal responsibility. It’s your own fault if you do something that put you in danger. Why didn’t you just stay home?

Whenever I try to have a deep conversation with a person born and raised in China (as opposed to someone like me who was unfortunately raised in America), an analogy invariably floats up in my mind: They are flowers that’s been tended to and protected in a greenhouse, whereas I’m the flower that got pulled out of my pot and thrown outside. I got to experience wind and rain, survived being stepped on, and developed a sense of fear and caution towards everything in my environment that threatens my survival. They on the other hand don’t understand the concept of racism, been shielded from much of the dark sides of society, and see America in a far more positive way than a real American ever can…

Then here on Substack, when I type “China” into the search bar, the top recommended accounts to follow included Present Danger: China. Out of curiosity, I clicked in to see what it’s about.

I should have known.

Even among my own friends, I can’t convince them that China is different from what they’ve been forced to consume. The AI expert is convinced that China is spying. The world travelers have never been to China and won’t go out of nervousness even as they visit much more dangerous places. Even my Chinese language student tells me that as a government worker, she’s specifically warned against going to China because US agents will get kidnaped. And I can’t show her stuff from XHS because US government workers are warned against the app as a… a dangerous propaganda machine? And yes, of course China is torturing aliens on the back side of the moon. So we must go up there before them and protect the moon! (And mine all the water and stuff while we’re at it, of course.)

People in China say: “You can’t wake someone who’s pretending to sleep.”
I say people are not pretending. They’ve been slipped sleeping pills so no amount of prying open their eyes will wake them (till they go on a hunger strike or something, which I guess is what happened with TikTok refugees).

Maybe instead of just history and mythology, I should bring a bit of perspective from the other side onto this platform.

I tend to avoid politics. I prefer to be objective and see multiple sides to every issue. But it’s one thing to try to understand where everyone is coming from, it’s quite another to not speak up when lies are being shoved down people’s throats. I want to pull out the feeding tube and give them a glass of water to sip on.

From personal experience, it’s more than likely that the water will get splashed back in my face.

But the thing about Substack is that it’s people’s choice to read what I write. It’s not going to pop up in their face unexpectedly. Hopefully, that brings people some comfort as I continue to write about the real China… (See the discussion on Substack here.)

I was in the middle of writing a post about the Chinese creation myth that answers the age old question of which came first, chicken or the egg, which also has uncanny parallels to the Singularity and Big Bang. I guess I should finish that first before I get myself into trouble. 

Though what I actually should be working on right now is my YA…