Another Day

When one of the co-founders of this blog first set up an account on a social networking site using the "modernleifeng" moniker, he quickly received a message from an "old China hand" who had a very weak understanding of Lei Feng and what the Chinese think of him. The debate about whether the Lei Feng story is true or simply a myth and the propaganda machine that built him into a hero during the Cultural Revolution is completely meaningless. When we chose the name "A Modern Lei Feng", it was in part influenced by our Dongbei roots and, of course, the song, but also because we like what Lei Feng stands for. Perhaps its a lie, and its definitely propaganda, but its much like George Washington and his cherry tree, but even more important.

March 5th marks the day the Chinese government set up to honor and remember Lei Feng. To do so, school teachers across the country encourage their students to go out and do small tasks to help other people or hold educational programs promoting social responsibility. This message isn't only important for the kiddies, but for all of Chinese society.

If the spirit of Lei Feng can be co-opted by Chinese (and western) hipsters, pun rockers, why can't it also be used by those who are trying to promote volunteerism and environmentalism. Volunteerism is significantly lacking in China. A self-serving interest and desire to take part in a once in a lifetime event motivated millions of Chinese to apply as volunteers at the Olympics, but the same people are the ones that push in front of you as you're getting on the bus, ignore the lost foreigner, or throw their garbage on the ground instead of taking a few steps and finding the garbage can.

Why can't patriotism be about more than just hating France and feeling insulted from time to time? There are people battling to do the right thing on a daily basis, there are "angels" around Chinese cities and the countryside who are dedicated to helping others or who see someone in need and feel its their civic duty to go and lend a hand. These people are rare, they need to be celebrated. Patriotism isn't only about raising a riot when faced with a (perceived) insult, its about devotion to your country, one of the best ways for most of us to show that devotion is by helping those around us and doing what we can to help the environment.

Honoring the spirit of Lei Feng should be like Mother's/Father's Day and Valentine's Day. It shouldn't be an afterthought once a year, it should be something we live by on a daily basis.

Learning from Lei Feng

Today, March 5th (I know, for those in China, its a day late, dollar short), is the day designated as "Learn From Lei Feng Day" in China when school kids are taught a bit about Lei Feng and then go out and do menial tasks around their campus and the city to show that they are full of the spirit of Lei Feng. Danwei spotlights the fact that a surprising number of school children in China don't really know who Lei Feng is and includes an interesting essay which issues the call to forget Lei Feng and "Lei Feng Spirit" and do more to promote the values he stood for.

We at Modern Lei Feng have always felt it important to help others (especially those less fortunate), care for our fellow man, and promote selflessness. When talking about Lei Feng, that is what I want to highlight more than anything. It isn't about doing it as part of a campaign, but doing it because its what you really believe in. Its a spirit that really needs to be promoted in China because, though its improving over the past 10 years or so, for the longest time it was truly dead. The Cultural Revolution killed that spirit, making neighbors fear neighbors and turning everything into a rat race where personal survival was more important than anything. After that, the reform era made people focus on money and opportunity and memories of the CR were too fresh to bring people to help others. Maybe in Beijing, at least, 1989 changed some of that as people gave up caring, if only briefly. Since then, there are a lot of people out there who are working selflessly for the improvement of China in a lot of different areas, but much of the time they do so anonymously.

I would love to see Lei Feng's spirit come alive once again. It's not like China is short on causes that could use assistance. Think about it. Migrants, the environment, the disabled, animal cruelty, spousal abuse, AIDS, etc, etc. All these areas (some of them more controversial than others) are areas where independent charities or just caring people willing to do something would do a lot to make people's lives better. There are already groups that are doing a lot, like Hui Ling and Bethel China which do a lot to help disabled people and blind orphans, respectively, in Beijing and whose work goes unoticed. Even organizations connected to the government like your city's Disabled Federation would probably be open to foreigners who are willing to help out or teach English.

Personally, I've tried to do as much as we can for the blind, and disabled in general, in China. While education conditions are slowly improving (though even a rich city like Shanghai is in need of funding for books), mainly due to pet projects in cities like Shanghai, it isn't helping because once these students graduate, they face so much prejudice in the job market which only sees them as piano tuners and masseurs. We know an individual who is blind, majored in English at Shanghai Normal (he was in the class that was the first blind students to attend regular classes at a university in China) and having graduated with a degree in English, he can't find a job because nobody is willing to take a risk. Unfortunately, this isn't the exception but the norm. Too often, even in the face of a hard working and accomplished person (and without that person being protected by an American ADA-like law), disabled people are rejected solely because of their disability and a boss who "doesn't want to take a risk."

If this comes off as a rant, that's not (totally) what its meant to be. I'm trying to highlight one problem that, to me, is very important and also trying to get people to help out more. It may be discouraging to think what 1 person can do in such a huge country, but there are a lot of positives that people who are willing to help for the right reasons can achieve. That kind of spirit is infectious and others around will be happy to join in. Also, for those who are foreigners, it can often mean that you'll be thrown into situations where you're amongst people who don't really speak English, while it may be intimidating at first, its also a great chance to really practice Chinese. Hopefully, more people in China can rediscovery the values that are a part of the "spirit of Lei Feng" and work to improve society around them.

Begin at the Beginning

Poor Lei Feng died in 1962 and soon gain a level of national fame that he would never have dreamed about during his life. His turn from selfless, common soldier to national hero to be studied and followed by generations of Chinese school kids started only after the above piece of calligraphy by Chairman Mao. Sure, the reality of Lei's "heroics" could be argued, but real or created, his heroism and the values he represents are a good thing, promoting helping your fellow man and being a "good" person. The "myth" of Lei Feng in China can be compared to the US myth of "Honest" Abe and George and his cherry trees, times ten or so. That whole "myth" was re-energized with the song and the resulting flash video called "Dongbei Ren Dou Shi Huo Lei Feng" (A version of that famous video can be found here).

I'm starting this blog hoping that its going to fill a bit of a niche on the web. If you're looking for a great daily news/commentary blogs on China, you have Peking Duck or Danwei for that, if you're looking for a photo "blog" there is ziboy, if you're looking for the best blog on Shanghai, there's Wang Jianshuo's blog. However, as far as I know, there is nothing like that for Beijing, yet, and while I don't think mine can ever compare to Wang's, I'm setting out to take up the challenge.

As a music lover, I also intend to make this into an mp3 blog with weekly postings of a wide variety of Chinese songs. This blog will be thrice weekly, with 2 posts a week on random topics of my choice and 1 post a week featuring Chinese music. I hope its going to be interesting, educational, and possibly even funny on occassions, a site that will cover anything and everything, so make sure to come back a lot!