Watching China

By Marifi Jara

QUELIMANE, Mozambique–Cable or satellite television services here are quite expensive and so we have opted not to get any. (The money spent for subscription fees, I tell myself, would be better spent for other treats like travels around the country and the bordering countries, or serve as buffer for my kitchen experiments because with the steep prices for example of baking ingredients here like egg and butter, cooking disasters could be costly.)

So without cable or satellite TV, the Beijing Olympics had come and gone and I have had to settle for occasional glimpses at stories, photographs and some short video clips over the internet. (I am not exactly a sports-enthusiast nor a big sports spectator, but I have always enjoyed watching the Olympic games, particularly gymnastics and synchronized swimming—isn’t it amazing how flexible the human body can be trained to be?!)

Now the Olympic banner has been turned over and the spotlight moved away from China. But China is by no means stepping off the world center stage. How can they when they (and their products) are everywhere – as visiting traders, infrastructure contractors, investors, and many as entrepreneur-migrants. (I wonder if the plan to develop a Chinatown in Dagupan is still pushing through?)

Of course here is no exception. (Actually, one frustrating reality here is too much of “Made in China” substandard wares. It seems that products coming out of Chinese factories that did not pass the quality standards in Europe, the US — and I dare say to some extent even back home in the Philippines – are exported here and sold, my goodness, not cheaply. Like for example a wine opener that broke even before it could open its first bottle or a drinking glass that you lift up and realize it has been detached from its ribbed base or a power extension cord that on first use went kaput — thankfully it did not end up injuring anybody! I do not mean to say there are many frustrating realities here given my still very limited point of view but our Mozambican friends and acquaintances definitely do have plenty to say about the economy, governance and poverty – especially poverty – but more on that another time).

Just like the majority in our Filipino-Chinese community, the Mozambican-Chinese community here is mainly composed of hardworking entrepreneurs. A couple of them, young brothers running a houseware shop, told me they would like to improve their limited English language competence (they speak Portuguese and their Chinese tongue) because they recognize, just like a growing number of Chinese, that it is a skill they need as China does more and more business with the world. (The brothers are nice fellows but yes their shop is one of those that sell rather frustrating goods.)

All these talk about China being the next superpower, I think, is superfluous. The truth is, they are not coming in next. They always have been. The Chinese people’s long-standing and resolute trading tradition has made them and continues to make them a subtle but irrefutable global force. And wasn’t it the voyager Zheng He, commanding what then were sophisticated ships and big fleets, who first sailed and stepped on parts of Asia and Africa (and debatably America?) decades before the Europeans sent out their colonizing expeditions? (I first heard about Zheng He and his travels in a television feature on Discovery Channel.)

Now, now, a mention of Discovery Channel prompts thoughts of travelogues — and stretching it a bit further, to thoughts of cooking shows and movie reruns and silly programmes (some reality TV shows would be at the top of the list) that are so ridiculous they actually make for a good laugh. I don’t get those on the internet. Suddenly, just for a fleeting moment there, I pine for cable/satellite TV. But unlike the Chinese footprint around the world, that feeling goes away quickly.

(Readers may reach columnist at marifijara@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/
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