Chinese Takeaway

It’s important to link news stories with one’s own experiences. To connect what’s being reported with things that happened to you. What stands out? That’s what I’m trying to do in my writing here, for politics, culture, education, the arts.  

The huge influence of China on our lives is impossible to ignore, as acknowledged in the blatant kowtowing of its biggest fan: Keir Starmer. He worships their ruthless authoritarianism and would do anything to damage this country in its relations with his dream state.

Covid should be the obvious example – the most significant event to hit us since World War Two. It came from China; so did our response. But notice how hesitant our media are in ever blaming them or examining their role, often even reticent to discuss the virus’s Chinese origins. Compare with how readily and enthusiastically the BBC criticises Israel, on any pretext.  

Lockdown was a direct result of our aping the Chinese authorities. Some of the SAGE members behind the policy were life-long Communists; notably the psychologist of mass terror and brainwashing, Susan Michie. Yet the criticism now is that we didn’t lockdown hard and fast enough! It’s clear China successfully furthered its interests by exporting their mindset and methods to our managerial elite.

China is the world’s managerial superpower. It influences our politics, universities, industry, commerce and basic infrastructure. I’m not saying mutual advantage is impossible, but we’ve been delusional about the nature of their system and its aims. There has been open corruption of our degraded elites, a wholesale purchase or infiltration of many politicians, businesses and universities. 

The first time I saw this was in 2001, through a bizarre Oxford ‘poet’. This shadowy figure was supposedly a visiting academic, who actually worked for the Chinese Embassy. He explained that job to me – ‘promoting the cultural sharing of Chinese values’. I suspect he was monitoring the many Chinese and Hong Kong students in Oxford for the CCP, to ensure they complied with ‘democratic centralism’.

Every week he would bring our poetry workshop some drivel, lambasting Western life. Usually these were inadvertently hilarious ditties, combining voyeurism with fortune-cookie wisdom. I remember one on women’s armpit hair, with his weird demand that this be shaved or kept hidden. Another – published in The Guardian – was a gloating rebuke of American foreign policy, using 9/11 to bludgeon his point. When I asked if he’d ever written about Tibet, his reaction was explosive.   

Along with this absurdity, there was something undeniably sinister about the cove. I remember when a young Hong Kong student attended; she showed obvious fear in his presence, although he was smilingly polite. She never returned – but he asked after her…  

Fast forward many years and I’m teaching in Bicester, close to the largest Chinese tourist attraction in Europe, Bicester Village. It gets so many visitors that the London trains have announcements in both Mandarin and Cantonese: Sinification in plain sight, or hearing.

I’ve never had explained to me – not even by pupils who worked there – why this unremarkable designer outlet is such a magnet for the Chinese. The place is of vital importance to the town’s economy, so it makes economic sense to be so accommodating. No doubt that argument is repeated endlessly, for all the various ways this country’s life has become so dependent on China. It comes at a cost.

My students, regardless of their ethnicity, were unanimous in loathing these visitors, who they found inconceivably rude and intimidating. One told me it wasn’t unusual to be grabbed and have clothes shoved against you, checking for the fit. Another was horrified by the frequent and deafening pavement ‘gobbing’. This is such a feature that Bicester Village has signs up in Chinese script, politely requesting ‘no expectoration’.

My own disturbing experiences were with two British colleagues. Both had taught English in China. 

One was mildly critical, especially when she told me the institution where she worked hosted occasional public executions. I was stunned and expressed disbelief. She was adamant – though she’d never witnessed one – saying they were popular with her students. She couldn’t explain why she’d been willing to work in such an horrific place – in effect supporting it – and was annoyed by my question. 

Then there was the bloke who joined shortly before I left. He uncritically admired Chinese communism, feeling we’d a lot to learn from its approach to education – i.e. the need for indoctrination. His hatred of free speech reflected this. He did ‘offence archaeology’ on my writing then reported me to the school authorities, for discussing the woke nonsense on gender he was brainwashing pupils with. 

He’d certainly learned a lot in China and was a useful asset for them, undermining the ability of our young people to think independently. There was a Maoist aura about this teacher. Someone from the woke generation of new graduates, taught never to discuss but simply to repeat accusatory phrases: ‘I see no evidence for that’; ‘I find that view problematic’; ‘That’s what causes discrimination, racism, homophobia, transphobia…’

There’s no debate, simply statements of your evil, for questioning what’s under discussion. A particularly unfair tactic – very effective on pupils – is to imply someone approves of undoubted historical wrongs, if they don’t agree with the woke position. Pupils are constantly terrified of being labelled as ‘racist, ‘sexist’, ‘homophobic’, ‘transphobic’.

Such accusations have become the main form of bullying between kids, deliberately initiated by woke teachers. The use of fear, to indoctrinate. In classic doublespeak, this is done whilst claiming kindness is being shown. Incidentally, ‘free speech’ in schools is taught by claiming the key requirement is to avoid causing offence: a disastrous idea for pupils to believe.

How many others are using Chinese methods and furthering China’s agenda, in schools and universities? Increasingly, political thinkers are linking the fury-driven woke movement – its rejection of debate in favour of instant demonisation and attack – with the violent student activism of Mao’s Cultural Revolution:

WOKE ACTIVISM IS DRIVEN BY MAOIST IDEAS FROM THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION

https://paulsutton.substack.com/p/chinese-takeaway-with-kow-tow-keir