The War At Home

The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

Oh yes. The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly.” They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being. 

Chip Tsao is a best-selling author and columnist. A former reporter for the BBC, his columns have also appeared in Apple Daily, Next Magazine and CUP Magazine, among others. 

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DYING

Death. We all experience a certain death in our lives. I’m not only talking about the ones when we lose our breath, I’m talking about dying in our soul, dying in our feelings, dying in our sins, dying in our hatred. I just finished watching an episode in One Tree Hill and that episode really strucked me hard and deep, like the way Leo Buscaglia in his book (*Loving, Living, Learning) mentioned about a young student dying without anyone noticing it.
It is really sad to realize that one could kill himself/herself due to feeling unloved or unnoticed, but hey it is reality, cruel and insane it may seem…death comes to every individual who felt he/she is alone in the battle and quest for a life of love. Every act of suicide indicates a lesson to be learned, that each one is responsible for one’s insane act. Emotional neglect, social isolation, loss, failure, insecurity, frustration, etc…all are pre-cursors to that depressing feeling of being unloved and without love that eventually leads to the act of suicide. Death in one’s heart is more fatal than that of dying due to physical malfunction, cause it challenges everyone to analyze things and rise above the adversities and start healing the illness in the society. Suicide confuses and awakens everyone from leniency.
I remembered the news about the person who committed suicide by jumping off the MRT station at Shaw Blvd. It really made the headlines in the evening news, newspapers and even the chatrooms. Everyone is bothered by it, it triggered certain emotional reactions, good or bad…it did awaken many of us to the sad and cruel reality that on our world, many died as they got drowned by their emotional baggage that caused much pain, making it easier for them to end their lives, believing a better life awaits them in the aftermath.
So, what can we possibly do about it? Perhaps, we could start by giving life to others with our smiles or simple acts of kindness in order to avoid that depressing feeling of wanting to die. We may have not notice it, but at certain points in our lives, we have caused an emotional death to another by our indifference or feelings of grandiosity. I think it is high time to make that change, give others the reason to live. And I’m sure with this sincere and loving act you’re about to share, would ultimately give you that same feeling of wanting to live more.