Conflicted in China

An unconditional heart brings great blessings with no boundary

Without boundaries, our fragile lives are all connected through love

Why do you turn a blind eye and let yourselves be restricted by the status quo?

Willingly, I finally come to my senses to realize my character and my emptiness

-translation of lyrics from Wu (Enlightenment) sung by Andy Lau in Shaolin film (2011).

Concern in disguise?

If you lived in Nazi Germany or Communist China now, what would you, a common man or woman, do? Realistically, honestly, what could or would you do?

The song lyrics above are oddly reflective of the current concentration camp situation in China. Written for a movie about Shaolin (a safe, historically distant topic), the song could have addressed Uyghur oppression.

The lyrics seem to describe the inner conflict of a Chinese citizen who sees what his government is doing to three million of his countrymen and doesn’t know what to do about it.

If you are loving and thoughtful, if you love your family, you couldn’t watch families and communities broken up and “re-educated” without feeling deeply saddened. Maybe all your countrymen don’t know what’s happening, but you do. Your soul feels it.

No risk here

Since it’s not my country I risk nothing by criticizing China. I am safe in my outrage. That’s not bravery, just noise. Were I a Chinese citizen or a German in the 1930s, I’d probably do what the other Germans did and what other Chinese are doing: turn away, deny the truth, mind my own business.

Honestly, I would fear for the safety of my family. Even if we are not Uyghur or Jewish, it’s just a matter of time. We would not be the same people in Communist China or Nazi Germany. We couldn’t breathe easy or stand up straight. Cowed by horror and despair, not even our unborn grandchildren would escape the epigenetic effects of stress, war, and malnutrition.

So what?

Why this topic? Why this angle? Because we live in a country with the opposite problem: too much freedom, time, and stuff on our hands so we make up problems to freak out over. Teach your children to celebrate their freedom and fortune while we can. We are spared the inner conflict of not helping persecuted citizens. Being born in the right time in the right country is a gift.

Help the Uyghurs in China by shouting your opposition to the world. Boycott Chinese-made items. Hashtag away #FreeUyghurs #SayNoToChina #NotMadeInChina #FreedomForUygurs. Convince your friends that buying Chinese supports concentration camps and oppression.

Because we can.