I wrote this last week, but other China diaries appeared, so I held it.
With today's HuffPost article on worldwide opinion, I thought this would be a good time to send it.
Exactly one year ago this month, I was on the train from Beijing to Tibet when a group of Chinese students approached me and asked to practice their English. This was not a surprise; it happens often, and as I had nowhere to go for the next forty-eight hours, I willingly agreed. What was a surprise was the first question they asked.
“Who are you going to vote for?”
Remember, this was last June, and the US primaries were still many months away.
“For what?” I asked.
“For President of the United States!” they inquired eagerly. Then they cut to the chase, to the question they were really asking, to the question they most wanted answered.
“Are you voting for Obama?”
I was astonished that Chinese students would even know who Obama was. Having lived out of the US for four years, I had only recently learned his name.
“Wait here, I want you to see something.” I said, and dodged into my compartment.
I returned holding up Obama’s book, “Dreams From My Father.”
“I’m reading this,” I told them, and they broke out in smiles all around, and each one wanted to touch, to hold the book. They made it clear that they were hoping Obama would get elected.
Think of the implications. How many US college students could name the current Chinese president, much less someone waiting in the wings? Yet these kids were so savvy, so aware of the influence American politics has on their world, that they had educated themselves on the candidates. At least, that’s what I thought had happened.
Since that day, this has become a common occurrence: non-Americans asking who I was voting for. I lived here during the last presidential election, and was never asked that question. Not once. Maybe people just thought Bush being reelected was a done deal. But I was wrong when I thought those students were generally aware of US politics. What seems to be happening is that the rest of the world has fallen in love with Barack Obama. Those kids had no clue who John Edwards was, or John McCain or Milt Romney. What they did know was that there was this new person on the scene, who touched something deep within them, someone who gave them hope that the US would stop bullying the rest of the world, an American leader they could respect
That was a year ago. This is today. Now I am moving back to the US and for the past four days, my house has been full of a Chinese crew packing up all my family's earthly possessions. The crew chief calls himself Adam. (For various reasons, most Chinese who work with foreigners adopt a western name).
We were going over some paperwork when I said, "I can't talk to you right now, I have to watch this."
I had CNN Asia on, and Obama's "I am the nominee" speech was airing live. He watched a bit, then went back to work. We could do the paperwork later.
The next day, he asked me about what he had seen. "Who was this guy who "talks so much?" he asked me.
I told him a little about Obama, and he listened. "He is black, this is good," he said.
"No, he's half black," I said and smiled. He immediately understood my meaning.
"This is better," he said. "He is everybody."
He asked me about Bush and I must admit, I went on a rant.
He smiled. "You feel so free to talk like that. Before, we Chinese cannot talk like that about our Great Leaders. Lots of trouble. But in China, starting to change. Now we can give some criticism."
Throughout the day, he'd ask questions, and I told him highlights of Obama's life story. He took it all in, but when I told him that Obama had graduated Harvard Law (he knew about Harvard) then refused to make big money at a law firm and instead went to organize the poor, the astonished look on his face was precious.
"This is true? Not make up a story so people vote him?"
"Not a story," I said.
"Chinese person would try to make money," he admitted.
I asked him if he could read English, and when he said he did, I gave him my copy of "Dream from My Father", plucked out of my bookcase about 15 minutes before it would have been packed up. I also gave him an Obama campaign button. He'll be the only person on his block to have one.
When the packing was done, and he went to leave, he turned back.
How do you say that name again?"
"O BA MA" I said, and we repeated it several times together.
"Obama," he finally said without prompting.
"I like. He is good man. I hope he will be your Great Leader. "