'Chad': A lone dissenting voice amid conformity

It’s impossible to see the truth from just one angle. Anyone who has ever written a university essay knows that to properly understand something, every perspective has to be considered, analysed and critiqued.

Unfortunately, in a country like China different perspectives are scarce. The censored press and lack of political debate all but silence the man on the street, and as clued-up as the Western media may be, most attempts to understand the views of the working-class Chinese are reduced to guesswork. Many politicians, journalists and religious leaders would give a lot for a candid interview with an average Chinese man.

I would doubt, however, that they would be willing to conduct that interview wearing a borrowed pair of Speedos.

I was.

As I settle into my Chinese host family, who will be my surrogate parents for the next year of my degree in Chinese, I ask myself: when the only man unafraid to give me his opinion also makes me share his swimwear, is the truth even worth looking for?

Let me introduce my Chinese Dad (my ‘Chad’). He’s 50 years old and lives in Dalian, Northeast China. He works an office job at Dalian University of Technology, the school where I’m spending my third year of university.

To say Chad is "eccentric" is a bit like saying John McCain is "getting on a bit." His unpredictable behaviour so far has provided my classmates with plenty of laughs, usually at my expense.

When it comes to politics, however, Chad has a thing or two to say. However bleak, his cynical perception of the current state of China is a refreshing contrast to the rosy picture painted in the national news.

The information I’ve gathered from my classmates, many of whom are also living with Chinese families, would suggest that Chad’s views aren’t popular among his contemporaries. The general opinion seems to be that whilst China’s abnormally rapid development may not be flawless, the improved quality of city life excuses the growing problems below the surface.

Having been brought up in poverty during the Mao years—a fact that has provided us with much interesting discussion—one might expect Chad to be satisfied with today’s China. Like many of his fellow citizens, he could quite easily turn a blind eye to corruption, censorship, the widening wealth divide and other such bother, and ride the wave of consumerism as it swells through the Chinese metropolis. As long as there’s rice in every bowl and a new car in every drive, why should anyone have anything to complain about?

Maybe it’s because his family aren’t quite at the wave’s crest, but Chad, unlike others, refuses to measure China by the number of designer labels on show. Though he openly doesn’t believe in Communism, Chad doesn’t seem to be able to forget about his less fortunate comrades. He’s spoken with frustration about the connection between corruption and the Sichuan earthquake death toll, as well as the growing problem of graduate unemployment, which he claims is responsible for the rising suicide rate. Though he may not be the state’s idea of a patriot, his compassion for his fellow countryman is astounding.

As the weeks go on, I’m sure to develop a clearer and clearer picture of Chad’s China, but I’m anxious to point out that this information comes at a price.

To trust my Chad is to trust a man who holds Mao Zedong personally responsible for his own nicotine addiction, and who often warns me that reading and eating at the same time is “bad for the brain.” Two weeks ago, he convinced me that it was safe to go swimming with him along Dalian’s “shark-free” coastline, an hour before proudly serving me “local” shark meat for dinner. Last Sunday, Chad raised me at 7am to go on a fifty kilometre bike-ride that I had apparently asked for. (I have no such memory.)

This seemingly excessive outdoor activity may be due, in part, to the Chinese Government’s "one child" policy. Chad’s only child is his daughter, my "chister," who, like most Chinese students, is unblinkingly focused on her degree. Though the two evidently share a strong bond, I understand Chad’s keenness for a bit of father-son bonding. It’s lucky that I do, otherwise I’d probably object to the Speedos, which he insists are the only permissible attire for aquatic recreation.

Oddly, though, I find myself trusting Chad in spite of his peculiarities. Whereas at home, it’s a good policy to distrust anyone who even owns a pair of Speedos, let alone sports them, the mere fact that Chad is an exception makes his opinion valuable to me. Chad is not only a constant source of entertainment, but a crazy little beacon of independent thought amongst a society that generally does as it’s told.

Whether his depressing predictions for the next decade come true or not, without them China’s "truth" is no more than an essay written from one source, with no references and a shoddy bibliography. Chad’s pushing for a first.