French Man Refuses to Return China's Imperial Bronzes

It should have been deemed an illegal auctioning of two Chinese imperial bronzes looted from the Imperial Palace when the French and the English sacked it during the Opium "War." That "war, by the way, was really a shameless attempt again by the Brits and French to colonize China because, after all, they were so used to colonizing everyone else in the world. Christie's response? They couldn't deny the right to auction the pieces, owned by the partner of the late Yves Saint Laurent.

One wonders. If this were the Italian government, protesting that the Getty had yet again acquired more statues illegally, of course both Christie's and this French man, would have acquiesced, stopped the auction and returned the pieces.

But it's China. Hey, they are just so easy to scapegoat. Again and again. So this French man said that he would return the illegally obtained bronzes if China "improved its human rights record."

That's shorthand for, you know, I'm really irresponsible, I'd rather have the money, and since everyone else points to China's human rights, I will too. It's convenient, rather than actually confronting the central issue: these were looted bronzes, illegally obtained during a war that was, frankly, a colonialist attempt by the French to subjugate the Chinese by inducing rampant drug addiction. When that didn't work, hey, why not just invade them? It's our right, after all, isn't it? We're from the West, we're French. We can do anything.

Why doesn't Mr. Pierre Berge confronting real history and examining what his country did to acquire these pieces in the first place?

The issue is not what China does do, the issue here is what other countries also do but don't take responsibility for because they avoid the issue by pointing the finger at China. That's the issue Westerners often don't grasp.

See the entire article here.

Being Western Isn't Enough of a Credential Anymore

The days when being a Westerner, especially one form Western Europe (read: Britain) or from the U.S., in order to be instantly credible, experienced and desirable, are over. In what context? In the East Asia context.

Americans and Western Europeans who travel to India still experience some cache, as do those same people who also travel to other countries in South Asia. They've been colonized enough to be "used to" Westerners who treat a trip to India, for example, as a spiritual pilgrimage. Usually these same people don't subscribe to a "conventional religion" but they sure don't mind using an entire country to activate their "spirituality."

But more and more, partly because much of East Asia was not colonized by these same Western countries, Americans, Brits, French, they aren't instantaneously viewed as more capable, more skilled, more intelligent, or otherwise more informed, than the indigenous peoples. Travel to any of the major cities in China, for example, and one will find more sophistication in the young people than anything Americans might offer. More ambition, better gadgets, and for those born in the city, better educated.

It must be so disappointing for travelers who assume that just because they are less than stellar in their own country, either sexually or professionally, they can still establish their cultural hegemony over there. Well, they can no longer.

Being Euro-American just isn't enough of a credential anymore. Wherever one goes in East Asia, one will find that not only can they do things just as well, they can often do it better, with better technology. It can be done more quicker, and their adoption of newer, more sustainable and efficient technologies is far more rapid and agile than the slow process made in Euro-American countries. Except perhaps those in North-western Europe, where many of these technologies originate.

Nevertheless, the idea of the BRIC economy is more than merely the latest wave of strong, developing economies. It is of cultures that are rapidly gaining on those of the West, building upon both their developments and their mistakes. Americans in particular should take note and stop being so arrogant.