Taxi Cab Politics, Lost in Translation?

One main reason I chose to move to China's capital, Beijing, was because the environment is distinctly more political. Most people are well informed (from state run media) and willing to discuss their perspectives. For some reason, in the past week I've had interesting political conversations with red blood cells of Beijing, taxi cab drivers.

For some reason, probably my complexion, drivers can tell I'm a foreigner. After I state my destination, the logical follow up question they ask is, "What country do you come from?" I calmly reply that I'm American, and brace myself for the reaction. In the past two weeks, I've received the best reactions to date.

The first was last week. The cabbie asked me what I thought of Bush. (His Chinese name, Bu shi, sounds phonetically similar to "no" or "am not"...) "I didn't vote for him. What do you think of him?" I said.

That's when it started.

"Well," the driver started, "I think he's like Chairman Mao Ze Dong." "什么？What?" I said. "Yeah, just like Mao, Bush is 70% right and 30% wrong," he said, reporting the official government line on Mao's service to China. "Bush has done some bad things, but has there been another 9/11? All of the war has moved to Iraq! Sure, the economy isn't where it was. Even Europe isn't where it used to be, though," he said. I was blown away.

We continued talking about the state of the world for awhile, but I still couldn't shake his comparison to Mao. Bush has done some heinous things, but nothing compares to the images conjured up in my head when I think of Mao. Maybe, just maybe, Mao was more than 30% wrong.

The second conversation was yesterday morning. I missed the bus and had to take a cab. The driver asked where I was going and what country I came from. "America is very very strong*!" he said, "Very very strong*!" I nervously laughed and waited to see where he was going with this. "What do you think of Bush?" I prodded. "Bush? He's very ugly. I don't think he's a good president. Too ugly!" "难看？什么？Ugly^? What?" I said. "Yeah, too ugly. Clinton was very beautiful**! A good president and so beautiful**!" "So, he's a bad president because he's ugly? What about all of Clinton's girlfriends? Should a president have girlfriends who aren't his wife?" I asked. "BECAUSE he was beautiful** he had so many girlfriends. Lewinsky wasn't beautiful** but HE sure was! ... And a great president! Bush is too ugly to have girlfriend or be a good president!" I'm not sure whether we're talking about a leader's ability or attractiveness!

"How about [former Chinese President] Jiang Zi Men? With those large glasses, was he handsome** and a good president?" I asked. "Jiang Zi Men? He was handsome**, but Bush is too ugly^!" I had so many things to ask him, but just as my convulsive laughter allowed me to speak, we'd arrived at my school. WOW.

These conversations gave me a lot to talk and laugh about with my teachers today. Now, everytime I'm in a cab, I'm going to ask the Bush question...maybe I'll take a poll of cab drivers. I'll call it Bush: Hot or Not. Or maybe Bush: 70% or 30%? Stay tuned for the results, I'm curious to see the margin of error...

peace, love, and politics. paul.


*The word he used was: li hai 厉害，which can also mean fierce.
^Nan kan 难看, means ugly, or embarrassed.
**Piao liang 漂亮, which is commonly used for beautiful women, can also mean intelligent. Shuai 帅 is handsome, and in different context, commander in chief.