During his recent visit to China, French President Nicholas Sarkozy paid China a compliment that was enthusiastically latched onto by the media. According to Sarkozy, Chinese people are very good at saving energy. Yesterday’s Global Times had a feature story on the topic and listed several examples of Chinese people saving energy. These included turning off lights and taxi drivers pushing their cars when lining up in a taxi rank. As nice as Sarkozy’s compliment is, I think he is having trouble telling the difference between being environmentally conscious and being tight-fisted. In fact, Chinese people save money because their salaries are so low and they need to save every penny that they get.
Although the Global Times article seemed to wholeheartedly agree with Sarkozy, it did quote a Brazilian professor who somehow has an innate understanding of China. He said that the main reason why Chinese people save money is because they want to spend more on food. I reckon he is 100 per cent correct, with the quote being a nice addition to an article that was very critical about Brazilian energy saving. The article was also critical of Russia overheating houses during winter; something that sounds very familiar to my own experience in Beijing of sweating in bed because my apartment’s heating cannot be adjusted.
Despite the article coming across as another manifestation of China’s inferiority complex, writing about the environment is important and Global Times should be congratulated for their article. Just one complaint though – the headline is ‘Chinese commoners understand saving energy more than laowai (foreigners).’ I know that laowai is the language of commoners, but it makes my blood curdle to see that word in the media. A better heading would have been ‘French President says Chinese are one of the world’s best energy savers’. I just hope that the Chinese media will one day refrain from using race-based terminology.
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