![]() In an earlier age, it was known as ‘fleeing the Qin’ 避秦 bì Qín, an expression that dates back to the fourth century CE. ‘To rùn 潤’ is to get out while the going is good, to establish a safe haven and create a life that is not subject to the vicissitudes of China’s mercurial and harsh party-state. Many people of means, along with countless others with few means, have decided that of all the ways to cope with troubled times ‘flight is the best strategy’ 走為上策 zǒu wéi shàng cè. The first decade of Xi Jinping’s rule has seen a new era of ‘Chinese escapism’, colloquially referred to as ‘The Art of Running’ 潤學 rùn xué. More importantly, in this process, we will also cultivate empathy for truly different ways of being in the world today an enterprise that does, in turn, broaden the possibilities of our own humanity. It is this self-enrichment that we seek to impart to our students and our fellow-citizens. We understand other language-realms (with all that that entails) to enrich ourselves. Through its history, its peoples, its trade, languages, ways of thinking and, now, as a result of its further economic and diplomatic reach, China (including the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan) features in powerful and complex new ways. In a speech addressed to Australian high school teachers in 2008, I observed that:Ĭhina is a global presence. They do so for cultural, commercial, political and complex human reasons. In the present age of Chinese wealth and power, it is inevitable that hybrids of all kinds will flourish. Such is its breadth and complexity that it has for millennia embraced and been enriched by people, ideas, practices and cultures that have originated beyond the Central Plains 中原 zhōng yuán, or ‘China Proper’. One of the commonplace truisms about Chinese culture is that it is vast and profound 博大精深 bó dà jīng shēn. And so, created with a knowing smile, an affable comedic style and topical lyrics, Teacher Grey’s growing œuvre has seen him banned in the Official China of the People’s Republic even as he has been embraced by The Other China, be it in the PRC, Taiwan or globally. (For a model ‘good caucasian’, see Kumbaya China, 1 September 2020.) However, as the Chinese expression puts it: 人不可貌相 rén bù kě mào xiàng - looks can be deceptive. Teacher Grey’s country of origin, boyish looks and fluent Chinese would, even in these strained times, make him the kind of Friend of China that a Party Secretary might want to introduce to their family. He might as well have called it ‘Stop Jerking Off and Save the Nation!’ In February 2023, Teacher Grey 格雷老師 Géléi lǎoshī, an American musician with fluent Chinese and a winsome manner, released ‘Chinese Boys, Don’t Masturbate Anymore’, a humorous song with a political punch.
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