02/01/2011, 00.00
UNITED STATES – CHINA
Send to a friend

Lang Lang’s songs and anti-US insults

by Wei Jingsheng
During the state dinner in honor of President Hu Jintao, a famous Chinese piano player sang two Korean War songs that insult the United States and their soldiers. The Chinese leader smiled as if he won a battle. The Americans are angered and insulted. Who gains from such behavior? Here is the opinion of a great Chinese dissident.
Washington (AsiaNews) – During the state visit by the Chinese Communist leader Hu Jintao, a big event happened which is causing great anger in American society. The humiliating event at the White House has been talked a lot about this week. It happened during the state banquet offered to Hu Jintao and his group by the White House. There were some performances by famous artists. The one appearing most on the Internet was the solo piano performance by the Chinese pianist Lang Lang. After the performance, the guests applauded as expected, without anyone raising an objection. Further, it was rare to see the usually stone-faced Hu Jintao smile brightly; he even warmly hugged Lang Lang.

So what was the music about? It was a piano piece composed from the main theme song of the Chinese Communist movie "Battle of Triangle Hill" mixed with the main theme song of another famous propaganda movie "Hero Children," both of which are about the Korean War. Both movies and their theme songs are well-known in China. Everyone knows their political significance.

Of course, as everyone knows, the United States is a country of free speech. If you are at home playing karaoke, or even in a party singing these songs, nobody would be bothered. Even if you praise the Chinese army's performance in the Korean War on the Internet and in newspapers, you still have your freedom. However, to praise publicly the Chinese army defeating Americans, and even disrespect the war opponents by using the metaphor of "jackals and wolves" at a state banquet given by your opponent in your honour is way too much.

This was a public humiliation. Even though the lyrics were hidden, it was still a blatant insult. Therefore, the American people are boiling angry. While Chinese "patriotic" youths hail Lang Lang as the "national hero", his image in the USA is disgraced to smelly dog faeces. Numerous American netizens are giving him the most terrible titles, while the American public condemns this diplomatic scandal as an extremely impolite humiliation to the host.

Lang Lang immediately changed his tune, even to the degree that he said he did not know at all the meaning of that music. However, he said earlier that it made him most proud that he was Chinese and thus it was selected. Now, no one believes his poor excuse. There are even reports that senior Chinese government officials and President Hu Jintao planned the music and insisted that the White House accept it. Hu's bright smile proved that. Lang Lang is only a pawn to be used to humiliate the American people.

Some people argue: Why shouldn't play the music that the Chinese people like in the White House? Of course. It is like when one visits someone else's home. You may sing any song you want, but you do not pick the songs that insult the host. This is the essential morality of a guest. Diplomatically, it is even more so. Even sovereign states do not insult their puppet emperors right in their face that way. This time, it indeed created a record for the Guinness Book of diplomatic relations. Two big countries publicizing their differences at the welcome banquet is no surprise, but to humiliate publicly the host country in such way is unprecedented. If anything like it happens again, it probably would be done by either the Communist Party or the Nazis. That is because both are political groups that lack basic ethics.

Some friends feel very strange: Why did the U.S. government readily accept such a serious insult? Maybe they did not know the meaning? This argument was quickly rejected. First, the White House state dinner was strictly reviewed, unlike some ordinary family dinner. It was carefully arranged to such a degree down to the detail of floral arrangements and the significance of one colour, and even the importance for a piece of feather. Therefore, it cannot have such an oversight. The American government pays so many China experts; how could they do not know the meaning of these household-name songs? This explanation is clearly unreasonable. Therefore, there are some US scholars already asking: Why didn't the China hands in the US Government tell the White House something so serious?

On the other hand, I want to ask the foreign affair experts groomed by the Chinese government: Why didn't you warn Hu Jintao and Dai Bingguo not to play with fire? These experts should know what consequences would bring due to this kind of extremely impolite behavior violating basic moral standards. They should also clearly know what kind of disaster would come to China when they provoke a formidable opponent. So what was the purpose for them to craft skilfully this kind of diplomatic scandal? This question is something that indeed needs pondering deeply.

The first guess is that Hu Jintao wanted to use the performance to gain the support of the "patriotic youths", in an effort to seize an opportunity for the power struggle in the future. However, people felt the price tag is too high, so at least it is not so simple. Then there was speculation that it is preparing public opinions for the upcoming outbreak of the second Korean War. Some even speculated that it was Hu's political opponents who set up the trap. Before these speculations are confirmed, at least we could leave the matter open.

But one thing is certain. These Communist Party bureaucrats are used to putting on a face of hegemony. They have been habitually bullying the Chinese people inside China. When there is relatively more international pressure there is not much room to act as they wish, so they might behave themselves a little without too much arrogance and pretend to show politely respect to others. However, once they feel no pressure, they will get carried away. Especially when other people need their help, these communists' habit of not treating other people as human beings will be exposed.

This is not due to ethnic or cultural differences. It is the nature of the evil communist cult. The images we are more familiar with in film and literature are those of the Nazis and the KGB. Yesterday, an old Taiwan-born scholar asked me: Why would Hu Jintao be so silly as to commit such a silly mistake? I told him: the Communist Party is bad, but not silly. It is hard for people like you living in normal society to understand their abnormal psychology.

Any matter that you think was immoral and shameful they could count as a gain. Reading the remarks by the "patriotic" youths inside China revealed that. They thought that Lang Lang was able to represent them (Lang Lang is the vice chairman of the official All-China Youth Federation under the Chinese Communist leadership) in taking advantage of the White House, so they hailed Lang Lang as a "national hero". How could you think that Hu Jintao does not have the same psychology? Look at Hu's bright smile after Lang Lang's piano play. That smile was rare and heartfelt for Hu. It was the smile of bullies after they successfully bully the others. This behavior is indeed what we call "take the shame as one's pride".

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
Tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang rise as Cold War fears cast a shadow over Korea
12/02/2016 15:14
Pope talks about the Middle East, the Holy Land and the food crisis with Bush
13/06/2008
White House to stop Beijing's "imperialist" policy in the South China Sea
24/01/2017 15:55
Cyberattacks, expansionism and economic crisis on Xi’s and Obama’s dinner menu
16/09/2015
Pyongyang ready for "all-out confrontation" with Seoul and Washington
19/02/2009


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”