The Bookworm

The Bookworm is a little oases at the bottom of Suzhou's Sichuan Jie. Here you can get a hard copy of a daily newspaper (normally the current "Herald Tribune"), good coffee, good food, a wireless connection and an atmosphere that smacks of Paris, London, New York or Munich. It is a place that has me almost contradicting my "hui2 jia1" post. In the Bookworm the illusion mentioned in that post is almost perfect and so much so that it is really quite real.
Sitting in the Bookworm, China's openness regarding the Sichuan earthquake comes as no surprise. However, while sitting here I am availed of the opportunity to be reminded of how that openness can also be threatened from outside China. An article and an editorial in "The Herald Tribune" is quick to contend that such openness can start a domino reaction of complaints that might lead to the whole system collapsing as it did in the Soviet Union seventeen years ago. Drawing parallels like this are, I believe, misplaced, politically motivated and counter productive.
Moreover, when I look at the emotion and obvious concern shown by China's leaders this week and when I think of George Bush's reaction after Hurricane Katrine and the lies, lies and more lies that were the pretext for an illegal war in Iraq, the hypocrisy of the West can, at times, be quite offensive. There is a lot wrong in China, there is a massive lack of transparency and there is corruption. There is, however, a lot of good will in a lot of places and although the system might itself breed corruption,we in the West should be setting an example, we should see China as an equal partner in the global village and in doing so facilitate a positive development that will help determine the kind of China we have to co-operate with and the nature of the world we live in. At the moment, we do not do this. It is, perhaps, naive to think that we will and maybe even more naive to assume that it will have the desired effect. There is, however, no alternative.
The picture was taken inside the Bookworm and outside the sun had its hat on. The summer has arrived!