The Laowai Rant Blogs
The English language China blogosphere is remarkably rich- and for proof just look at my blogroll. These blogs range from media analysis to thoughtful observations to personal diaries to unraveling the mysteries of the Chinese language. An hour or so spent reading these blogs would be an hour spent immersed in the many facets of what it is like living as a foreigner in this massive, mystifying country.
The "Laowai rant blog" is one particular species that tends to be very popular. And hell, it's easy to see why: most people love a good rant. There are many aspects of Chinese life that nag, annoy, and outrage us, and it's only natural for someone to want to air it in public. In fact, I'd say it's healthy- a blog that only described China in flowering terms would get old pretty fast.
In my three plus years in China, there have been two big laowai rant blogs. The first was called Talk Talk China, and the second Sinocidal. Oddly, both lasted for a relatively short period of time and then expired. Both were pretty much the same, although in my opinion Talk Talk China was more consistently funny. And both were enormously popular, eliciting hundreds of comments to even relatively mundane posts.
Via Chris, Sinocidal appears to be active again. Chris is not impressed, to say the least:
I thought Sinocidal had stopped posting€¦
I thought wrong. They have continued the inevitable slide from "occasionally funny venting session" to "rarely funny and almost never useful vent if you're a cynical expat unhappily stuck in China" to "stupid, boring and pathetic racist drivel". Not that that slide takes particularly long€¦ Anyways, such sites can kinda serve their purpose and are actually kinda useful in their early, frustrated and venting expat stages, but it really doesn't take too long before they sink into the "I'm a superior Westerner stuck in inferior China" bullshit. I'm sitting here wishing I'd never clicked on that link I should've (and very early on intended to) delete from my bookmarks.
Interesting. I must confess that I don't necessarily agree with Chris about Sinocidal, and to be fair most of their material is harmless satire. But they do have the unfortunate tendency to wallow in outrageous bigotry, and I'm always distressed by the legions of commenters piling on like bullies in a schoolyard fight. It amazes me how the anonymity of the Internet tends to bring out the worst of human nature.
I'm reminded of an American I know in Kunming. He's about my age, is married to a lovely Chinese girl, and speaks Chinese very well. He's also an expert ranter. Very few social occasions go by without one of his rants, which most other laowai find hysterically funny. He'll take the floor and speak rapidly, peppering his sentences with bad language and politically incorrent observations. Any attempt to challenge him elicits a rude retort. Even people who don't agree with him tend to admire him for telling the so-called truth, as if his baldly racist and bigoted remarks required any amount of courage.
Political correctness has become so entrenched in our society that loud bigots are now considered a refreshing change of pace. But there's a difference between being politically incorrect and being an ignorant blowhard. The "slide" from one to the other is all too easy, as Chris points out. Why is it that nuanced opinions seem mealy-mouthed and unconvincing, while simplistic, hateful speech is branded as "honesty"? An idiot with a loud megaphone is still an idiot.
PS- Although I must say that the Sinocidal "Open letter to Air China" is still one of the funniest things I've ever read on the internet. Can we all agree to direct our venom toward Air China?
January 23rd, 2008 - 10:09
I agree that they’re sometimes funny, but more often than not, I dislike TTC and Sinocidal because they remind me of expats I know, people like your friend. These are the people who take every public occasion, every meeting, every moment they have free to rant about how much they dislike China, which inevitably leads me to ask, “Why don’t you just leave?”
While the online ranters might just be searching for an outlet in their blog, the way they talk about China is too similar to the all-rant-all-the-time expats for me to really enjoy their posts.
January 24th, 2008 - 04:00
Everybody rants. In the case of Laowai’s ranting about China, it is only natural for these Laowai’s who come from developed, industrialized western countries which have higher standard of living to complain about a rapidly developing yet still a third-world country like China. China must have inconvenienced a lot of Laowai’s. It’s OK to rant I think, if you focus on the specifics of your complaints. If you start generalizing, then you run the risk of becoming an ignorant fool and bigot. But then again you really don’t get those Laowai’s who seem to be ranting all the time: If China is that bad, why don’t you just leave?
January 24th, 2008 - 05:45
Pfeffer,
Mostly agree, but I don’t think it has to do with people moving from a developed to an undeveloped country per se. I’d bet that among all the Chinese living in America there are more than a few ranter types- as you said, it’s only natural.
I remember walking through the Harvard campus years ago and coming across a man from Sarajevo, who first described his experiences as a refugee and then launching into a tirade about how much he hated being in America and especially at Harvard. It definitely goes both ways.
January 24th, 2008 - 12:11
Ranting is fine…sometimes. It’s understandable, it’s relieving and it can be funny.
What gets me about the ranting blogs though, is that they hold on to that shit long enough to write a huge blog post about it.
I just think they need to chill out…
January 25th, 2008 - 03:57
Matt,
Sure it goes both ways, but I still think when you are going to a less developed place (compared to where you come from), you have a higher chance of complaining about things. It is human nature. When you are used to having certain things and all of sudden you don’t have them anymore or they are drastically different, you complain.
Matthew,
I second. It seems that a lot of western expats indulge themselves in ranting about China (I wonder if western expats do the same in other countries too?) to a point that I think the majority of them do (speaking from my personal experience). There are different kinds of people within the expat community in China though:
(1) Those who came here reluctantly (those who were sent by their headquarters) tend to rant the most. I guess they probably can’t leave China just like that, they are kind of stuck here. They almost hate everything about China, the weather, the food, the language, the people, the culture. They simply can’t stand the difference. The minute they receive the memo to send them home, they will pack their bags and get the hell out of here, shouting “Hallelujah!”
(2) The second group are those who might have come here willingly on their own seeking opportunities. They came here because they believed this is where the money is. Some of them are doing well, some of them are not. Either way they are in China solely for the money (and experience and skills which might land them better jobs back home). A lot of them, if not most, can’t stand China just like the first group for pretty much the same reasons. Yet they allow themselves to keep suffering. When they see better opportunities somewhere else, they will be more than happy to leave China. Expect to see them in India, Russia and Brazil soon.
(3) The last group of people, they came to China because they were genuinely interested in China, its culture, history, art etc. A lot of them married Chinese. This group of people are the most open-minded, liberal (hope this won’t offend anybody) people who understand and appreciate difference and diversity. They too complain about certain things in China and they are the ones who are most passionate about the so-called “plight of the Chinese people”. Many of them adore China for various reasons, however they don’t like the Chinese government.
I say the first group accounts for maybe 50% of the expat population in China, the second group is about 40% and the third group is about 10%.
February 5th, 2008 - 19:35
I remember when TTC first launched I thought it was absolutely hilarious and ate it up – but by the time they pulled the plug, it was the humane thing to do.
Sinocidal was formed out of TTC’s rather rabid commenter/fanbase and as such gave all of TTC’s vocal co-complainers a place to vent.
It took me a while to warm up to it, but it produced some gems (I still think Chou Chou is one of the best humour writers this blogsphere has seen).
However, I think they hit the same wall as TTC did after a year or year and a half… you just run out of things to complain about – and then it just gets cruel for the sake of being “that blog”.
As for the “real life” complainers, we’ve all met them, and most of us have been them. It’s par for the course and all part of the China Experience I think.
It really does make you wonder about other expat circles. Do the expats in Thailand complain about misadventures with bargirls that turn out to be nothing of the sort? Folks in Brazil that have just HAD IT with topless beaches and football? Banished souls in India that just can’t stand the cow sanctuary?
I’m curious to know.
I’m admittedly biased, but it does feel that China’s got a damn active expat blogsphere though.
February 19th, 2008 - 16:42
Nice! Thanks!