The Chinese Matrix

 

Just returned from a package tour of the Dongbei (North East) region of China covering Shenyang, Dalian and Harbin. The region is rich in history being the hotspot for China, Russia and Japan conflict during the late 19th and first half of 20th century.

The local tour guide is fervently nationalistic, absolutely proud of Dongbei and totally committed in imparting the history of the region. So loyal to China and her origin that she came across as biased to the point of being sympathetic to the wrong doings of certain famous characters from Dongbei. I wasn’t surprised she is anti US and anti Japan but was amazed she spoke quite well of Russia. Thus she criticised Israel’s bombardment of Gaza but had no mention of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Though Russia occupied the Dongbei Region for 28 years, Russia apparently helped them to industrialise and build their manufacturing sector, uplifting the economy of the region.

I did not subscribe to a VPN which can avoid the firewall in China which blocks access to Google and YouTube. The news on TV has extensive coverage of the plight of the Palestinians. For the whole week in China I could not gather  any news of the people taken hostage by Hamas nor hear a word from the US UN representative while that of the Palestinian representative was loud and clear.

 I can understand why my tour guide is so opinionated. However what is amusing to me is the fact she recognises the strict government  vigilance the Chinese citizens are subjected to but speaks of it as a necessity for the country’s security and the common good for all. She reiterated that China has no territorial aggressive ambition and the Belt & Road was purely an economic aid initiative. Fortunately I have limited Chinese language ability to speak my doubts out loud.

At one point as I listened to her I thought about the Matrix movie. Then I remembered the remarks of the character Cypher who wants out of the real world : "Ignorance is bliss".