The go-between
Last month, a tiny corner of Chinese cyberspace was abuzz with talk of democracy. It was not democracy of a national sort: rather, the members of Reading Life, an internet bulletin board dedicated to the discussion of literature and society, were electing new board moderators.
Reading Life, which split off from Sina.com's Reading Salon in 2001, has written itself a constitution of sorts. It limits the powers of the board moderators, provides for biannual elections and even lays out the conditions under which the moderators can be impeached. The members of this board take their democracy very seriously - with a fervour which, in the larger context of mainland society, carries with it a certain pathos.
The usual election-season hubbub was exacerbated by the fact that someone had nominated a foreigner to be moderator. The arguments in favour: a foreigner would have a unique point of view on things. He was also free from the personal histories and grudges that had caused the schism with Sina.com in the first place. Lofty statements were made about the 'borderless and international' internet, and all were reminded that tolerance was a founding principle of Reading Life.
The arguments against included a half-facetious suspicion that the foreigner was of Japanese extraction, and variations on the phrase feiwozulei, qixinbiyi, roughly 'only my own kind can enter into my sympathies'. It's a roundabout way of saying that tolerance goes only so far.
The Japanese question was settled by gathering up the Beijing elements of the board for a dinner, providing an opportunity for closer examination and consideration. With the help of alcohol, great strides were made towards international understanding, and the foreigner was later elected one of four board moderators.
A month later, the foreigner's knowledge of Chinese was tested and deemed passable (barely). He was pumped for all kinds of information regarding American hip-hop, fast food and trends in metafiction. Most board members still seemed pleased with the novelty, but a few might have felt that some freedoms had been sacrificed by having a foreign audience.
The foreigner, for his part, had been stuck with the task of deleting politically sensitive internet postings soon after taking over as moderator, and was having qualms of his own. Cultural communication was one thing, but playing an active part in China's system of media control was quite another. Perhaps maintaining an observer's role would have been a better idea? But it's too late now. Reading Life's constitution mandates six-month terms for moderators, and there are no provisions for resignation. And how do I know all this? Because I am that foreigner.
