Por Josh Gartner

Como se expatria han inundado en China estos últimos años, los bolsillos del país han desarrollado una sensación distintamente colonial. En las partes más trendiest de Shangai el nightlife es dominado por los extranjeros que viven la experiencia semi-China, mucho como algunos Británicos hicieron en África y la India durante los años idos cerca. Verdad, el colonialismo trae para importar de una imposición militar, algo que falta decididamente de China moderna, pero hay no obstante una realidad incómoda que es llana considerar.

¿Mucho se ha hecho de las andanas enormes de la cubierta tradicional que se han demolido para hacer el sitio para las altas subidas de Beijing (y a otra parte), pero cuánto de ésa es conducido por el mercado para cubierta del occidental-estilo del `del upscale'? El dinero grande está estando por los inversionistas chinos (muchos de quién han conseguido préstamos sombríos), pero los extranjeros son a menudo los que está que descascan hacia fuera el yuan para él. Mi edificio en el área de Dongzhimen de Beijing es probablemente 10-15% extranjero, mientras que el complejo vecino (y algo más nuevo) está más cercano a 50 o al 60%. Justos fuera de mi décimo quinta ventana del piso son los remanente de cuál era una vez un hutong más grande, más vibrante (vecindad tradicional). Las filas aseadas de las casas single-story se sientan apenas al este, significando que por mediodía ensconced literalmente en nuestra sombra. Justo más allá de ellos es un bloque de los edificios del piso del comunista-estilo 7 dejados en desorden con el 拆 del carácter, que como cada uno hacia fuera aquí sabe, denota que un edificio se ha escogido para la demolición.

Incluso en algunas segundas ciudades de la grada la dominación extranjera está fijando adentro para mejor o peor. En Dalian las docenas de compañías japonesas han establecido los centros de la llamada que se aprovechaban de las habilidades del idioma extranjero del chino local allí así como la proximidad de la ciudad a Japón. Certain neighborhoods are lined with Japanese restaurants that do not even have Chinese menus. Call it economic colonialism if you will.

And that’s just what you could argue is happening in the western half of Sichuan Province’s Chengdu. There are estimated to be more than 100 Fortune 500 companies with offices in the city, including Intel which invested nearly 400 million dollars there in its last round of China-binging (the deal now pales in comparison to its Dalian project). With that increased foreign presence, so too has the selection of bars, restaurants and hotels serving the re-located employees. Once one of the most traditional cities in the country, it now has one of the larger expat communities.

You may well argue that the good coming out of all of these developments far outweighs the negatives. And you would almost certainly be correct. Noted economists like Joseph Stiglitz have been extremely impressed with China’s ability to tweak the free market model to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Yet I am not arguing that FDI is bad, but rather using it to point out a broader overall trend. The inflow of investment, even as it reaches the point of irrational exuberance is undoubtedly a good thing.

The real question I am trying to look at is how well foreigners have integrated into a generally homogenized society (although one that is not nearly as much so as people generally believe). Think about the immigration debates in England, Germany, France and the US. Xenophobes have often cited the reluctance to learn the local language and customs to justify anti-immigrant sentiment.

In China efforts to ‘sinofy’ the foreign population is rarely given a second though. There is little push on either the side of locals or Westerners. Instead, most expat life in China takes place within the confines of familiarity. Even those who have made the effort to learn about the country and its culture often retreat to their own world of comfort, with western DVDs and bars, their Chinese ayis cleaning up after them, and local waiters and waitresses bringing them food.

Does that make us bad people? Certainly not. However the comfortable expat lifestyle in China still clearly hints of colonialism. Certainly it is less overt than what we have seen in years past around the world, and cultural hegemony has still not set in the way some might believe. And yet despite everything that rationally tells me nothing is wrong, there is nonetheless a lingering feeling in my mind that something is not quite right either. Perhaps the real problem is that I am apt to mistake liberal guilt for colonialism.

Josh Gartner, China Expat’s Daily Tea Leaves
ChinaExpat.com, ChinaExpat.com/blog/josh